Lectures on the Pentateuch and the Moabite stone

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AUTHOR.

VILLAGE SERMONS.

(Second Edition. Fcp. 8vo. cloth, 2*. M.

THE COLONY OF NATAL.

A Journal of Ten Weeks' Tour of Visitation among the Colonist* and Znlu Kaflri

of Natal. With a Map and Illustrations. Second Edition.

Fcp. 8vo. cloth, 6j.

rOUE SERMONS ON ORDINATION AND ON MISSIONS.

18mo. sewed, 1*.

A LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

Upon the Proper Treatment of the case of Polygamlst Converts from
Heathenism. Second Edition, 1*. 6d.

THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL TO THE ROMANS

Hewly Translated, and Explained from a Missionary Point of View.
Fcp. 8vo. cloth. It. 6d.

MACMILLAN and CO. Cambridge and London.

THE PENTATEUCH AND BOOK OF JOSHUA
CRITICALLY EXAMINED.

Part I. The Pentateuch Examined as an Historical Narrative. Fifth Edition,

revised. 8ro. cloth, ftc.
Past EL The Ace and Authorship of the Pentateuch considered. Second

Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. doth, 7*. 8a\ <

Past in. The Book of Deuteronomy. 8vo. oloth, 8s.
Part IV. The First Steven Chapters of Genesis. 8vo. 10*. 94.

PEOPLE'S EDITION of the above, complete In One Volume, price 6s.
Part V. The Book of Genesis Analysed and Separated, and the Ages of its

Writers determined. 8vo. 18*.
Part VL The Later Trfytsletion of the Pentatench. 8TO.M*

THE NEW BIBLE COMMENTARY,

By Bishops and other Clergy of the Anglican Church, critically examined.
Part L Introduction to the Pentateuch ; Introduction to Genesis : the Book of
Genesis. 8vo. price Z*. M.
Introduction to Exodus ; the Book of Exodus. 8vo. price is. Qd.
Introduction to Leviticns ; the Book of Leviticus. 8ro. price 3s. M.
Introduction to Numbers ; the Book of Numbers, ftvo. price St. Qd.
Introduction to Deuteronomy ; the Book of Deuteronomy. 8vo. price 5*.

Part n.
Part III.
Part IV.
Part V.

NOTES ON DR. M'CAUL'8 ' EXAMINATION ' 07 PART L

Prloelj.

A FRENCH PASTOR'S ESTIMATE

Of Parts I. and II. of Bishop Couetoo'h Work on the Pentateuch.

By the Rev. Th&opr. Boot, Pastor at Verviers.

Translated from Le DUctpk de J4*u$-Okri*, Revue dm PnttetkaUUnu au XIX

8Ude. April and May, 1868. Post8vo. M.

THE CONFESSIONS OF A MISSIONARY.

Being a Defence of Bishop Counrso, from the Frenoh of Edmosd Schsrsr,
Bxteaotsd from the Rtvue des Deux Monde*. March S, 1863. With a Preface,
in Haply to the Letters of the Rev. F. D. Maurice on * The Claims of
the Bible and of Science,' by Presbyter Anglic ancs.

LONGMANS and CO. London.

Errata.

Page x6, line 17,/fr G.il 1-3, read G.i.i— ii.3.

i» *»3» » *>ufor cities,"*— -but most abruptly, first explained in

Deuteronomy, read cities. •* These cities, however,
are mentioned long before,* 7 but most abruptly, before
% a word has been said to explain the reason for which

they were to be set apart.

„ »*3» .» *9» delete "

„ 823, tiott t /or n iS.; xii.19. read" L.xxv.3a,33.

„ a6o, line 11, /or D.L., in L.L, read D. and in L.L.

THE PENTATEUCH

AND

THE MOABITE STONE.

LONDON! PBINTBD BY

SFOTTI9WO0DB AND CO., NEW-STKSBT SQUARB

AND PABUAMSNT STBBBT

v>-

See Rett, $>, 436.

LECTURES

ON THE

PENTATEUCH

AND

THE MOABITE STONE.

WITH APPENDICES CONTAINING

/. THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

II. THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

Ill THE PRE-CHRISTIAN CROSS, ITS UNIVERSALITY
AND MEANING.

BY THE RIGHT REV.

JOHN WILLIAM COLENSQ

BISHOP OF NATAL.

* Every one truth is connected with every other truth in
of God. Therefore, to accept at a truth that which is not a truth is an
evil having consequences which mm indeed incalculable. There are subjects
on which one mistake of this Mad will poison all the wells of Truth, and
affect with fatal error the whole circle of our thoughts.'

Duke of Argyll, Reign of Law, p. 54-5.

LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

Tkf right •/ tramlaticn is rnervttt.

PREFACE.

JHESE LECTURES have been suggested by the
New Lectionary of the Church of England,
which in various places, and especially in the
First Lesson for the morning of Septuagesima
Sunday, 1 directs the attention of all thoughtful members
of that Church to some, at least, of the important results
of Modern Biblical Criticism. Henceforth, therefore, so far
from its being forbidden within the Church of England to
pursue such enquiries, the law itself, by commanding and
enforcing the use of this Lectionary, prompts or, rather,
requires us to enter upon them. It will surely now be
necessary that, from the Pulpit and in the Sunday-School,
more full and sound information should be imparted on these
points from time to time than has hitherto been commonly
supplied in English schools and churches.

Moreover, the New Bible Commentary, ' by Bishops apd
other Clergy of the Anglican Church/ admits that we have no
correct copy of the Ten Commandments as really uttered by

1 See p. I.

vi PREFACE.

the Divine Voice on Sinai, and that ' the two distinct state-
ments ' of them in Exodus and Deuteronomy, though ' dif-
fering from each other in several weighty particulars/ are
' apparently of equal authority/ and ' each is said, with
reiterated emphasis, to contain the words that were actually
spoken by the Lord, and written by Him upon the stones/ a
Further, it instructs its readers that, generally, wherever they
read in the Pentateuch, ' And Jehovah spake unto Moses,
saying/ they are to conclude — not that there was any audible
utterance, but only — that Moses felt himself moved by an
inward Divine impulse to enact certain laws, which, however,
he not unfrequently copied from heathen institutions, ' adopt-
ing existing and ancient customs, with significant additions,
as helps in the education of his people/ 3 And it informs
them also that 'it is by no means unlikely tliat there are
insertions of a later date, which were written, or sanctioned,
by the Prophets and holy men, who after the Captivity
arranged and edited the Scriptures of the Old Testament/ 4

Under the above circumstances, the time seems to have
arrived for preparing a work ' in which the latest information
may be made accessible to men of ordinary culture/ 6 by one
who has studied the question from a different point of view
from that of these commentators, and has arrived at very dif-
ferent conclusions.

I have attempted to prepare such a work in these Lec-
tures, which are intended to lay before English readers, who
cannot devote the time and thought needed for the study of
larger and more technical works, the most important results

« B.C., I.p.335- * AC\,I.p.7i7.

« -ff.C.,I.p.494. » ^.C.,I.p.iii.

PREFACE, vii

of the criticism of the Pentateuch, and incidentally dt other
portions of the Hebrew Scriptures. The labour bestowed by
me during the last ten years upon the Pentateuch and Book
of Joshua, the results of which are given in Parts I- VI of my
work already published, and in Part VII now in the press,
has enabled me to produce here, in a compact and readable
form, the main facts elicited by that Criticism, unencumbered
with Hebrew quotations and the mass of minute investigation
which that work of necessity contained. And I venture to
hope that these Lectures may be found useful especially
to Teachers in Day-Schools and Sunday-Schools, as well as
to Parents among the more educated laity, who desire to
impart to their children an intelligent knowledge of the real
nature of these ancient books, which have filled all along,
and still fill, so prominent a part in the religious education of
the race.

I have here, of course, adhered to the views set forth in my
published volumes, which I have seen as yet no reason to
abandon, though in some respects more, in others less, con-
servative than those of some eminent continental writers.
But such differences of opinion exist only on questions of
secondary importance. These three facts may now be regarded
as established by a very general consent of Modern Scholars
not pledged to the support of traditionary views— (i) that no
part of the original story of the Exodus can have been com-
posed before the time of SAMUEL, (ii) that Deuteronomy was
written not long before the Babylonish Captivity, (iii) that the
Levitical Legislation originated during the Captivity — by
which the notion of the Mosaic authorship and infallible
Divine authority of the whole, or indeed of any portion, of the

viii PREFACE.

Pentateuch is shown to be untenable. At all events the
reader will here have afforded him, as it were, a bird's-eye
view of the field of controversy, and will thus be able to enter
witt more lively interest into any discussions which may yet
arise with reference to some of the details.

In App. I I have given at full length the Elohistic Narra-
tive as extracted from Genesis and Exodus, and in App. II
the Original Story of the Exodus, as it appears in the Books
of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, when stripped of all
later additions ; and the reader will be able to judge for him-
self how far, as thus exhibited, these two sets of passages have
the appearance of being continuous wholes.

In App. Ill I have added some'information about the Pre-
Christian Cross, derived from the Edinburgh Review for
January 1870, to which, or to my Part VI, App. 122, the
reader is referred for further information.

J. W. Natal.

Bishopstowb, Natal ; January 8, 1873.

Note. — The readers of Part VI are requested to take notice that on further
consideration I have seen reason to assign E.x.28,29, to the O.S., (see New Bible
Commentary, critically examined, Exodus^i,^ where, however, the last four lines
in the Ans. to 43 have been inserted by a printer's mistake,) and the lists of
Canaanite nations in E.iii.8,17, xxxiii.2, J.ix.i,2,xi.3, to D., in addition to those
already assigned to D. in PartVI (E.xiii.5,xxiii.23,28,xxxiv.u, D.vii.i,xx.i7,
J.iii. Io,xxiv.ll).

Part VII, which will be found to be occasionally referred to, is in the press.

CONTENTS.

LECTURE

Preface ....

I. The Elohist and Jehovist in Genesis

II. The Age of the Elohist in Genesis

III. The Jehovistic Passages in Genesis

IV. The Age of the Jehovist in Genesis
V. The Age of the Jehovist in Genesis further considered

VI. The Origin of the Name Jehovah

VII. The Age of the Jehovist in Numbers

VIII. The Ten Commandments

IX. Human Sacrifices in Israel

X. The Laws on the Stone-Tables

XI. The Book found in the Temple

XII. Jeremiah the Deuteronomist

XIII. The Contents of Deuteronomy

XIV. The Later or Levitical Legislation
XV. The Later Legislation compared with the Original Story

XVI. The Late Date of the Levitical Legislation

XVII. The Ark and the Priesthood in the Original Story

XVIII. The Priests and the Levites

XIX. The Origin of the Pesach or Passover

XX. The Real History of the Exodus .

XXL The Worship of the Baal in Israel

XXII. The Historical Books from Genesis to 2 Kings

XXIII. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah

XXIV. The Fictions of the Chronicler .
XXV. The Moabite Stone

XXVl. Concluding Remarks

PAGE

v

3

15

29

43
57
7i
85
101

"5
129

H3
157
171
185
199
215
231
245
261

275
291

305
3i9
333
349
367

Appendix.

I. The Elohistic Narrative ....
II. The Original Story of the Exodus
III. The Pre-Christian Cross, its Universality and Meaning

38i
397
435

' For its essentially valid belief Religion has constantly done battle. Gross as were the dis-
guises under which it first espoused this belief, and cherishing this belief, though it still is, under
disfiguring vestments, it has never ceased to maintain and defend it It has everywhere estab-
lished and propagated one or other modification of the doctrine that all things are manifestations
of a Power that transcends our knowledge. ». . No exposure of the logical inconsistency of its
conclusions — no proof that each of its particular dogmas was absurd— has been able to weaken its
allegiance to that ultimate verity for which it stands. After criticism has abolished all its argu-
ments and reduced it to silence, there has still remained with it the indestructible consciousness
of a truth which, however faulty the mode in which it has been expressed, was yet a truth beyond
cavil. To this conviction its adherence has been substantially sincere. And for the guardianship
and diffusion of it. Humanity has ever been, must ever be, its debtor.

' But . . . while in great part sincere in its fealty to the great truth it has had to uphold, it has
often been insincere, and consequently irreligious, in maintaining the untenable doctrines by
which it has obscured this great truth. Each of them has been age after age insisted on, in spite
of a secret consciousness that it would not bear examination. Just as though unaware that its
central position was impregnable, Religion has obstinately held every outpost long after it was
obviously indefensible. . . How truly its central position is impregnable, Religion has never
adequately realised. In the devoutest faith, as we habitually see it, there lies hidden an inner-
most core of scepticism ; and it is this scepticism which causes that dread of inquiry displayed by
Religion when face to face with Science. . .

' Of Religion, then, we must always remember, that amidst its many errors and corruptions it
has asserted and diffused a supreme verity. From the first, the recognition of this supreme
verity, in however imperfect a manner, has been its vital element . . The truly religious element
of Religion has always been good ; that which has proved untenable in doctrine and vicious in
practice, has been its irreligious element ; and from this it has been ever undergoing
purification.

'And now observe that, all along, the agent which has effected this purification has been
Science. We habitually overlook the fact that this has been one of its functions. Religion
ignores its immense debt to Science ; and Science is scarcely conscious how much Religion owes
it Yet it is demonstrable that every step by which Religion has progressed from its very low
conception to the comparatively high one it has now reached, Science has helped it, or rather
forced it, to take, and that even now Science is urging further steps in the same direction.' —
Herbert Spencer, First Principles, 3rd Ed., p.xoo-2.

LECTURE I.

B

SUMMARY.

The new Lesson for Septuagesima Sunday ; the New Lectionary, the New
Commentary, and the New Translation ; two important admissions in the
New Commentary ; the Elohistic and Jehovistic accounts of the Creation in
Genesis ; the characteristic differences between them ; the Elohistic narrative
almost continuous throughout, composing the older story, which has been
supplemented with Jehovistic insertions ; the vivacious and picturesque style
of the Jehovist, far more anthropomorphic than that of the Elohist ; similar
phenomena found in the earlier and later writings of other religions; the
scientific difficulties in Genesis of no consequence when the composition of
the Book is understood ; different religions become purified from within from
time to time, as the Indian, the Jewish, and the Christian.

THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

JOR the first time in the History of the Church of
England the first three verses of the second
chapter of Genesis have been publicly read for
a Sunday Lesson in connection with the first
chapter of that book, as the closing portion of the account of
the Creation contained in that chapter. Some of you perhaps
will have hardly noticed this fact— will have hardly perceived
that any difference has been made in the Lesson for Septua-
gesima Sunday — will have taken for granted that the same
words were read on that day in your ears which have been
read year after year ever since you were old enough to enter
a church, and centuries before you were born. But a change
has really been made by the lawful authority in the Church —
small in appearance, but momentous in its consequences —
one which opens up the whole question of Modern Biblical
Criticism before the eyes of the Laity in every congregation,
and will inaugurate, I believe, a new era in the life of our
Church. In the present age, as you know, three great works
in reference to the Bible have been taken in hand by leading
men in the Church of England, under the authority of its
Bishops and Archbishops — a new Lectionary, a New Com-
mentary, and a New Translation — all professedly based upon
the latest results of learned, as well as devout, study of the

4 THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

sacred oracles. The Translation is slowly progressing, but
lies at present hidden in the secret chamber, and not yet
communicated to the world. We remember, however, that
one of the most eminent of the translators said openly in
Convocation when this work was begun — ' I must own it is
my belief that, when the Authorised Version has received all
the amendments of which it is capable and which it abso-
lutely requires, this will be found to have effected a very
great change in many parts of the Bible ; and I think one
effect of this will be that it will deprive many of the Clergy,
and perhaps still more of Dissenting ministers, of some of
their most favourite texts. We ought not to conceal from
ourselves that it will very materially alter the text of Scrip-
ture.' ! The New Bible Commentary has been partially
completed, but only so far as the Pentateuch is concerned ;
and I may draw attention to two of the most prominent facts
which distinguish this Commentary from any that has ever
before been published with any semblance of authority in the
Church of England. These are, first, the recognition that the
two versions of the Ten Commandments, which we find in
Exodus and Deuteronomy, ' differ from each other in several
weighty particulars/ and that neither of them represents ex-
actly the ' Ten Words ' as they were uttered by the Divine
Voice on Sinai ; a and, secondly, the not less important recog-
nition that most of the laws in Exodus, Leviticus, and Num-
bers, which are usually supposed to have been orally com-
municated by the Divine Being to Moses — * Jehovah spake
unto Moses ' — were not so communicated at all, were merely
the result of thought which arose by Divine inspiration in the
mind of the human legislator, 8 and were adopted frequently
' from existing and probably very ancient and widely spread
institutions.' 4 But the Lectionary is completed, and is estab-

1 Bp. (THIRLWALL) of St. David's {Guardian, Feb. 16, 1870,/. 193).
« B.C., I./.335A " &- /.634-6,643. 4 /*• /• 15^6,670,71 7.

THE ELOHIST AND J EH OVIST IN GENESIS. 5

lished already by law in the Church of England ; and, though
simple and unobtrusive in appearance, it will be found, on a
little closer consideration, to involve principles which will
tend to revolutionize the whole system of traditionary teach-
ing, admitting light and air into the long shut up, darkened
and musty, chambers.

For why is the Lesson on Septuagesima Sunday now for
the first time made to end with the third verse of the second
chapter of Genesis ? A glance at the Bible will show at once
the reason. It is because the matter contained in these verses
is precisely similar in character to that contained in the whole
first chapter, and quite distinct from that which follows in the
rest of the second chapter and in the third. The attention
of thoughtful persons is thus directed to the fact that there
are two accounts of the Creation in the Bible, one contained
in the first chapter of Genesis and the first three verses of the
second, the other exhibited in the rest of the second chapter,
with which the third is closely connected. In the former of
these the name of the Deity is always 'God,' in Hebrew
'Elohim/ and hence this narrative is called the Elohistic
story of the creation. In the latter narrative the name of the
Deity is always ' Lord God/ in Hebrew * JEHOVAH Elo-
HIM/ except where the serpent uses it, or the woman in reply
to the serpent ; 6 and hence this second account is called the
Jehovistic story of the Creation. The attention, I say, of all
thoughtful persons will now be called to the fact of the exis-
tence of these two separate accounts by the Lesson for Sep-
tuagesima Sunday in the New Lectionary, in which the old
division of the chapters, sanctioned by the pious ignorance of
past ages, which has hitherto obscured the truth for most
English readers, is once for all deliberately set aside, and
reason and scholarship are at last allowed their due rights
even in the treatment of Holy Scripture. It is the duty of all

• G.iii. 1,3,5.

6 THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

intelligent members of the Church of England to understand
clearly the truth of this matter, which is now brought before
them by the highest authorities, not of their Church only, but
of the State also, by which that Church is governed ; and it
is the duty of the clergy to set that truth in a plain intelligible
form before the eyes of the laity.

For not only are these two accounts of the Creation distin-
guished by the names of the Deity employed in them ; they
are marked also by very characteristic differences of style and
phraseology throughout. This appears most plainly in the
Hebrew original, and it requires some labour to bring it home
to the apprehension of the mere English reader; nor is it
possible to enter here at length into critical discussions like
these. But the same peculiarities of style, which distinguish
these two accounts of the Creation, are found also to pervade
other portions of the Book of Genesis, except that after the
third chapter we no longer observe the compound name
'Lord God/ or 'Jehovah Elohim/ but simply 'Jeho-
vah/ 6 in the second set of passages, corresponding to the
second account of the Creation ; whereas in that which cor-
responds in style to the first account of the Creation only
' Elohim ' still continues to be used, 7 as in that About one-
fourth of the Book belongs to the writer who uses only
' Elohim/ and is therefore called the ' Elohist ' or ' Elohistic
writer ' ; while the writer of the rest of the Book, or the
greater part of it, who uses freely the name ' Jehovah/ is
called the ' Jehovist/ And it is especially to be noted that
when the Elohistic passages are all extracted and copied one
after another, they form a complete, connected narrative ;
from which we infer that these must have composed the
original story, and that the other passages were afterwards
inserted by another writer, who wished to enlarge or supple-

• G.iv. 1,3,4,6, &c. ' G.v. 1,22,24, vi.9,1 1,12, 13,23, &c.

THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS. 7

ment the primary record. And he seems to have used the
compound name 'Jehovah Elohim' in the first portion of
his work 8 in order to impress upon the reader that 'Jeho-
vah/ of whom he goes on to speak in the later portions, is
the same Great Being who is called simply ' Elohim ' by the
older writer, and notably in the first account of the Creation.
It is this later writer who gives so much vivacity and spirit
to the narrative in the Book of Genesis, and paints so graphic-
ally the transactions which he describes. It is only he, for
instance, who uses such expressions as ' lift up the eyes and
see/ * lift up the feet and go/ ' lift up the voice and weep/
' fall upon the neck and weep/ — who employs the words ' sin/
' swear/ ' steal/ ' smite/ ' slay/ ' fear/ * hate/ ' comfort/ ' em-
brace/ and ' love/ 9 It is his part of the story, in short, which
abounds with those tender touches of human nature and
expressions of emotional feeling, which for many have con-
stituted the great charm in the narrative of Genesis ; while on
the other hand to him also are due the darker parts of the
histories of individual life, those, for instance, which record
the ill-will between Cain and Abel, the strife between Lot's
herdsmen and Abraham's, Abraham's and Abimelech's, Isaac's
and Abimelech's, the enmity between Sarah and Hagar, Ish-
mael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob, Jacob and Laban, Leah and
Rachel, Joseph and his brethren, and, above all, those in-
decent stories which have so long been offensive to our ears
when read in the public services of the Church, but are now
happily removed altogether from the Sunday Lessons and
most of them from the Daily Lectionary. While no stain of
moral weakness is attached by the older Elohistic writer to
the character of any one of the three patriarchs, in the other
parts of Genesis we find each of them exhibited as grievously
faulty in some particular. It is here only we meet with the

» G.ii.iii. • Pent.V.qa.

8 THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

disobedience of Adam and Eve, the drunkenness of Noah,
the cowardice and insincerity of Abraham, twice repeated and
again imitated by his son Isaac, the greed and selfishness and
incestuous conduct of Lot, the harshness and untruthfulness
of Sarah, the partiality and gross deceitfulness of Rebekah,
the ready lying of Jacob, the deadly hatred of Esau, with a
multitude of other similar incidents, which light up the more
sober pages of the older narrative with the lurid gleams of
human passion, or sometimes with the brighter beams of
human affection. 10

It is the Jehovist also who introduces strong anthropo-
morphic expressions, ascribing human thoughts and actions,
passions and affections, to the Deity — who tells us how Jeho-
vah * planted a garden ' and was * heard walking in it in the
cool of the day,' — how He made coats of skins and clothed
the first man and woman — how He grudged the man being
like Himself, and refused to let him eat of the tree of life —
how He set a mark on Cain, and shut up the Ark after Noah,
and came down to see the city and tower of Babel — how He
ate bread and meat with Abraham. 11 We find none of these
strong anthropomorphisms in the older writer. He speaks
indeed of Elohim ' remembering ' Noah, Abraham, and
Rachel, 12 making a covenant and appointing a sign of it, 18
appearing and speaking to Abraham and Jacob, and ' going
up * from them after the interview. 14 But these expressions
are obviously very different in kind from those of the Jeho-
vist, far less coarse and sensuous. The Elohist in short
appears to have had nobler, purer, grander ideas of the
nature of the Divine Being and of His paternal relations to
mankind than those entertained by the later writer, as will
be seen by any one who will thoughtfully read the first ac-
count of the Creation and compare it with the second. And

10 Aw/.V.47,48. » Pent.V 43. " G.viii.i, xix.29, xxx.22.

'* G.ix.8-17, xvii.l-14 «■ G.xvii.1,22, xxxv.9,13.

THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS. 9

this is quite in accordance with experience in other cases.
The early Vedas of the Hindoos were far higher in tone and
thought than the books which correspond to a later develop-
ment of that religion : the older portions of the Zendavesta,
the sacred book df the Parsee religion, show the same superi-
ority to the later additions. So the first days of Christianity
were brighter and purer than those which followed, when
fierce conflicts began about Creeds and Dogmas, and at last
Christianity became the religion of the Roman Empire, and
the celebration of pagan rites and mysteries, with the worship
of the Queen of Heaven under the name of the Virgin, and
the offering of the ' tremendous sacrifice ' by the hands of a
celibate priesthood, took the place of that worship of the
heart and of the life, which was enjoined by Him who said to
his disciples ' Blessed are the meek — the merciful — the peace-
makers — the pure in heart ! '

' You will perceive that I have not dwelt at length upon the
points in respect of which the accounts of the Creation and
the Deluge, and other portions of the Book of Genesis, are
contradicted by the most elementary results of Modern
Science, such as are, or should be, taught in our days in any
ordinary Village School. As soon as we know the true nature
of the composition of the narrative, and understand that it is
the production of different writers in different ages, who, how-
ever devout and truly inspired for their work, never probably
claimed for it a Divine Infallibility, nor, so far as appears,
even pretended to be writing real history, or were supposed
by their contemporaries to be doing anything more than
composing from their own imagination, with the help, per-
haps, of some traditionary reminiscences, a sketch of the early
annals of their race, we are relieved at once from the necessity
of reconciling all such contradictions, or of explaining them
away by forcing the words of Scripture to mean something
else than was intended by the writers, nor are we any longer

io THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

troubled by the numerous discrepancies which are found to
exist between one part of the story and another. These are
only just exactly what we should expect to find under the
circumstances of a multiplicity of writers and an unscientific
age. *

There is much more which I might say on this interesting
subject. But the time will not now allow of it, though I hope
to return to it on a future occasion. For the present let us
fix our attention for a moment on this thought, how religions,
which have been corrupted, have a tendency to purify them-
selves again after a time, and return to the simpler forms in
which they first appeared, though with a great advance in
clearness and certainty. Like the water of the Thames,
which (they say) when stored on shipboard is at first to all
appearance sufficiently clear for use, then becomes turbid and
foul, and afterwards throws off its impurities, which were held
by it in solution, unseen, in its original state, and becomes
very pure and good, so has it been, in more than one notable
instance, in the history of the chief religions of mankind.
" In India, where the corruptions of the simple faith of primi-
tive times had become multiplied beyond conception, till the
whole land was polluted with gross sensualities, the very
fruit of religious devotion, a new body of Reformers has
arisen, having no connection whatever with our Missionaries,
self-awakened, self-impelled — or rather awakened and im-
pelled by the Spirit of God — who have shaken off the idola-
tries of their countrymen, and approach the Divine Being
with prayers such as these — ' O Lord, to Thee and Thee
alone we look for aid, for Thou art the God of Salvation, our
only hope in this world of temptation. We pray unto Thee :
vouchsafe to enlighten our minds and purify our hearts with
Thy Love. Teach us to love Truth, and give us a strong
will that we may live according to it. With all humility we
approach Thy Divine Presence, and we prostrate our souls

THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS. u

beneath Thy feet : give us, O Lord, knowledge unto Salva-
tion. Good God, have mercy on us/ 15

In like manner the Jewish religion, during those sad years
of the Captivity, purified itself from the corruptions which
prevailed before that time, and which defiled even the Temple
itself with the grossest abominations. The writings of Jere-
miah 16 and the Later Isaiah ,7 breathe the same spirit as that
of the Elohist of Genesis, who makes the Divine Being appear
to Abram, and say, ' I am El Shaddai, Almighty God ;
walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will establish
My Covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee
in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee and to thy seed after thee/ 18

And when this purer faith had been again corrupted by the
priests and scribes of a later day, who laid heavy burdens,
upon men's shoulders, of rites and ceremonies and supersti-
tious observances, burdens too heavy to be borne, the work of
Jesus, restoring the old simple faith in the Living God, as the
Friend and Father of all, set free once more the human mind
from thraldom, into the glorious liberty of the children of
God.

And now, in this very age in which we live, Christianity
itself, long obscured by vain traditions of warring churches,
is cleansing itself from these corruptions, and returning to the
first principles of that Blessed Gospel which was taught by
Christ himself. Let us rejoice to know that in this, as in
other things, humanity is progressing from age to age, so that
the ^Divine doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the Bro-
therhood of Men, as revealed in the life and death of Jesus,
and in our measure in that of each of his true followers, is
becoming more clear and plain, more purified from the gross

11 The Brahmo Somaj {Theol. Rev., April, 1867,/. 198).

M Jer.vii.23, xi.4, xxiv.7, xxx. 22, xxxi.1,33, xxxii.38.

" Is.xli.10,13, xliii.3, xlv.3, xlviii.17, &c. M G.xvii.1,7.

12 THE ELOHIST AND JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

accretions of human dogmatic teaching, more manifestly the
moral and spiritual truth which is needed for all mankind,
the little grain, which has grown up already into a spreading
tree, under whose branches all nations of the earth shall one
day be sheltered, and find their long-desired refreshment and
rest

LECTURE II.

SUMMARY.

Recapitulation ; these views supported by the statements of Bp, Browne ;
the duty of explaining such facts henceforth in the Pulpit and the Sunday-
School, enforced by words of Abp. Whately ; the story of the Flood also a
composite narrative, and recognised as such by Bp. Browne ; the importance
of teaching the truth on these points in training children ; Bp. Browne's
strange explanation of the composite character of Genesis ; meaning of the
expression • the Five Books of Moses ' ; the Elohistic Narrative probably
written in the age, and perhaps by the hand, of Samuel, for the use of his
schools ; it is the oldest part of the Bible, except perhaps some portions of
the Book of Judges ; style of the Elohist, and indications of his age, which is
fixed by the stress laid by him on Hebron ; the Book of Genesis deeply
interesting when intelligently studied.

THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS.

HAVE drawn your attention to the fact of the
existence of two separate accounts of the Crea-
tion in Genesis, as indicated in the New Lec-
tionary by the choice made of the First Lesson
for Septuagesima Sunday. That Lesson ends with G.ii.3,
and contains one of these two accounts, which is at variance
with the other in some important particulars, as set forth in
critical works. In the one, as I observed, the expression used
invariably for the name of the Deity is simply Elohim, the
Hebrew word for God, meaning ' the Awful One ' ; in the
other we find invariably the compound name, Jehovah
Elohim, ' the Lord God/ meaning ' the Awful Living-One
or Life-Giver.' In G.iii, which is closely connected with G.ii,
the very same characteristic expressions recur as distinguish
the second account of the Creation, and the same compound
name is used for the Deity, except only in three places, where
the writer apparently shrinks from employing the name Je-
hovah in the discourse between the woman and the serpent
I stated also that the hands of the same two writers, the
Elohist and Jehovist, can be distinctly traced throughout the
Book of Genesis, and that, when the Elohistic passages are
separated, they are found to constitute a complete consistent

16 THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS.

story ; from which fact it is concluded that this was the ori-
ginal basis of the narrative, and that the Jehovistic portions
have been inserted afterwards, adding movement and life by
their picturesque details to the more prosaic older story.

If all this should sound strangely in the ears of some of
you, as something different from the old traditionary notions,
which till very lately were taught universally in the pulpit and
the Sunday School, and without the least misgiving were
pressed home by learned doctors and divines innumerable
upon the consciences of their hearers, young and old, as in-
contestable truth, which to doubt or disbelieve was the direst
infidelity, enough to imperil the eternal safety of the soul, yet
listen to what a Bishop of the Church of England has said in
the New Bible Commentary ; and, while I read his words in
your hearing, consider within yourselves whether they do not
substantially confirm the statements I have just made.

'In the history of the Creation, we have first, in G.ii.1-3,
that which was very probably the ancient primeval record of
the formation of the world. It may even have been commu-
nicated to the first man in his innocence. At all events, it
very probably was the great Semitic tradition, handed down
from Noah to Shem, from Shem to Abraham, and from
Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, to the Israelites
who dwelt in Egypt. Wit/tout interfering with tlie integrity
of this, the sacred author proceeds in the same chapter to
add a supplementary history, briefly recapitulating the history
of the Creation, with some little addition, in f.4-7, and then
proceeding to the history of Paradise, the Fall, the Expulsion,
and the bitter fruits of disobedience. In the first part of this
second or supplementary history, we meet with a signal phe-
nomenon, viz., that from ii.4 to the end of iii. the two names
of God, Jehovah and Elohim, are used continually together.
There is no other instance in Scripture of this continued and
repeated use of the united names. It is evident that the

THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS. tf

author, who adopted the first ancient record and stamped it
with his authority, and who desired to bring his people to the
worship of the great Self-existent Jehovah, used this method
of transition from the ancient Elohistic document to his own
more immediate narrative, in order that he might more for-
cibly impress upon his readers that the Elohim who created
all things was also the JEHOVAH who had revealed Himself
to Moses.' !

When facts like these have been stated so plainly under
such high authority, surely no blame can be attached hence-
forth to any who may think it right to teach these things
openly in the pulpit or the Sunday School. Rather, it is
clearly the bounden duty of all truth-loving, truth-speaking
men, of all intelligent teachers of all denominations, to study
these questions earnestly and devoutly with such means as
they have at their disposal, and first, as far as possible, ascer-
tain the Truth for themselves, and then in God's Name
convey it to others. For how can we serve the Living and
True God, except so far as we are servants of the Truth ?
And how can we be servants of the Truth, if we knowingly
shut our eyes to facts which we do not like, because they
conflict with our preconceived notions, and if we not only do
this ourselves, but attempt to close, or to keep shut, or to
throw dust in, the eyes of others under our influence, that
they may not be able to see the facts which God's wise Pro-
vidence, in this age of the world, has made known to us for
our instruction and guidance in life ? Those are solemn
words of a late Archbishop of our Church, well worthy to
be weighed by religious as well as scientific teachers of all
classes : —

' He who propagates a delusion, and he who connives at it
when already existing, both alike tamper with Truth. We

1 Bp. Browne, B.C., I. p. 27, 28.
C

18 THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS.

must neither lead nor leave men to mistake falsehood for
Truth. Not to undeceive, is to deceive. The giving, or not
correcting, false reasons for right conclusions, false grounds
for right belief, false principles for right practice, — the hold-
ing forth or fostering false consolations, false encouragements,
or false sanctions, or conniving at their being held forth or
believed, — are all pious frauds. This springs from, and it
will foster and increase, a want of veneration for Truth : it is
an affront put upon the Spirit of Truth.' a

The fact, then, of the existence of these two separate ac-
counts of the Creation — one ' the ancient Elohistic document/
the other a ' a supplementary history ' — will probably be re-
cognized henceforth by well informed Christians as a matter
beyond all doubt or dispute, as much so as the fact of the
Earth's motion round the Sun, which was once so fiercely
contested, but is now taught, as an elementary truth, in every
nursery, without any fear of true Religion, true Christianity,
being darkened or corrupted thereby. And the same is true,
though not to the same extent, of the story of the Flood.
As the writer in the New Commentary again observes — ' If
the basis of the history of the Flood were an ancient Elohistic
document, Moses appears to have interwoven it with a further
narrative of his own. The one portion may be marked with
the prevalence of one name, the other by that of another
name, for God ; but the consistency of the one with the other
is complete throughout.' 8 This fact, I repeat, of the exis-
tence of a compound authorship in Genesis must surely be
taught henceforth among the first elements of Biblical know-
ledge by all Christian pastors and parents, at once intelligent
as well as devout, and knowing that no good whatever can
come in the end of 'speaking lies in the Name of the Lord ' 4
— must be taught, if not in the nursery, yet at least in the

* Abp. WHATELY {Bacon's Essays with Annotations, p. II).

• Bp. Browne, B.C., I.p.28. « Zech.xiii.3.

THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS. 19

school-room, — the differences in style between the two narra-
tives, their probable ages, the discrepancies between them,
and the contradictions they exhibit to well-known facts of
Science, being pointed out wisely beforehand, as soon as the
child is able to understand such things or begins to feel an
interest in them. Thus it will learn from the first to take a
true view of the nature of Divine Revelation as we find it in
the Bible, and escape the misery into which so many have
been plunged for want of such faithfulness on the part of
their religious guides — faithfulness in learning, as well as in
teaching, the Truth — when it comes to mature years, in this
age of searching enquiry and seething controversy, and finds
out these things for th« first time for itself.

I pointed out in my former Lecture some differences in
style between the two writers, as much as the time and occa-
sion allowed; and generally I noticed the stately solemn
march of the one narrative and the sprightly vivacity of the
other. What now shall be said about the ages in which these
two accounts were written ? The old traditionary notion
supposes that they were both composed by Moses. The New
Commentary, as you have heard, maintains that only the later
Jehovistic passages are properly the work of Moses. The
Elohistic story, according to this Commentary, was ' the an-
cient primeval record of the foundation of the world/ 'the
great Semitic tradition,' which had been ' handed down from
Noah to Shem, from Shem to Abraham, and from Abraham
through Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, to the Israelites in Egypt,'
and from them was at last communicated to Moses. Thus
the writer says : — ' Some portions of the narrative do indeed
present what is called an Elohistic aspect, and especially
those portions which in their very nature are most likely to
have existed in the traditions current of old time among the
Israelites, viz., the general account of the Creation, the Flood,
the covenant of Circumcision made with Abraham, and the

20 THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS.

genealogical tables. These, then, Moses appears to have
adopted, much as he found them, perhaps perpetuating, word
for word, in his writings what before had been floating in
unwritten record.' 5 But who can believe that this ' ancient
primeval record of the foundation of the world ' could have
been handed down unchanged by oral tradition from one
person to another, 'word for word/ in the form in which
Adam first delivered it, in the course of 2,500 years — who, at
least, that knows how greatly a story is invariably altered by
passing through the mouths of merely three or four persons ?

The truth is, that it is merely assumed, without any ground
of reason whatever, that Moses wrote the five Books which
compose the Pentateuch. No doubt they are commonly
called the five ' Books of Moses.' But so we speak of the
Book of Judges or the two Books of Kings, without supposing
that these were written by the Judges or the Kings, as we
speak in like manner of the two Books of Samuel, without
meaning to say that they were written by Samuel, who, in
fact, dies and is buried in iS.xxv.i. These expressions mean
only the Books about the Judges, the Kings, or Samuel, re-
spectively ; and so the five Books of Moses mean the Books
about Moses, the Books in which Moses is the principal
agent, the prominent figure ; so that we need not now con-
sider the question whether Moses wrote the account of his
own death and burial in D.xxxiv, or set down this character
of himself for future ages — 'Now the man Moses was very
meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the
earth.' 6

It is probable that the earliest portion of the Pentateuch,
the ' ancient Elohistic document,' was composed in the age,
and, if so, then perhaps by the hand of Samuel. This great
prophet, the last of the 'Judges ' of Israel, 7 evidently laboured

• Bp. Browne, B.C., I.p.27.

• N.xii.3. ' iS.vii.6, 15-17.

THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS. 21

much to improve the condition of his people, and, among
other measures for that end, he appears to have instituted
schools or colleges for the education of young men, who
should take an active part hereafter in teaching and exhort-
ing their brethren. These were the so-called ' schools of the
prophets ' ; and, accordingly, we read in one place of a ' com-
pany of prophets coming down from the high-place with a
psaltery and a tabret and a pipe and a harp before them, and
prophesying/ 8 and in another of ' the company of prophets
prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them/ 9
and of the servants of Saul, and Saul himself, prophesying
also, so that the proverb went abroad, ' Is Saul also among
the prophets?' 10 So, again, in later days we read of the
' sons of the prophets/ who lived at Bethel, Jericho, the Gilgal,
&c. n — young men, it is plain, who were not ' prophets ' them-
selves in the higher sense of the word, but were trained under
prophets, such as Samuel, Nathan, Gad, and probably, as I
have said, with a view to their being usefully employed in
their turn in giving like instruction to others. The practice
of singing psalms to the sound of musical instruments evi-
dently formed some part of their occupation ; and, accord-
ingly, in the Book of Chronicles we read of the choristers in
David's time, who 'prophesied with harps, with psalteries, and
with cymbals/ ' according to the order of the king/ ' to give
thanks and to praise the Lord/ ,f But they cannot always
have been employed in these * schools' in singing psalms.
And there can be little doubt that for the use of such places
the first attempts were made to set down in writing the early
history of Israel, and, if so, then Samuel himself would most
probably have taken some prominent part in this work.

Perhaps the oldest parts of the Bible are some portions of
the Book of Judges, containing an account of events occurring

• 1S.X.5. • iS.xix.20. ,0 iS.x.io-l3,xix.20-24,

" 2K.ii.i,5,7,i5,iv.i,38,ix.i. "• 1Ch.xxv.1-3.

22 THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS.

during the rude times which immediately preceded the age of
Samuel. And then comes ' the ancient Elohistic document/
the older story of the patriarchal times, which we find in the
Book of Genesis, — perhaps, as I have said, from the hand of
Samuel himself. The style of this narrative is grave, prosaic,
unadorned, abounding with repetitions, yet not without a
certain grandeur and majesty, which accords well with our
conceptions of a very early age, before the advance of litera-
ture and the progress of civilization had supplied the language
with the more refined and picturesque expressions, which are
so frequently employed by the Jphovist, but are almost wholly
wanting in the older writer. In the whole Elohistic Narrative
there is no instance of a storjr of indecency, whereas the
Jehovistic additions abound with them. 1 * The crimes, which
the Elohist refers to as most common, are crimes of ' violence/
which in his view were the main cause of the Flood, 14 and
against which he expressly provides, ' Whoso sheddeth man's
blood, by man shall his blood be shed/ ls He nowhere men-
tions any of the luxuries of later times ; he knows nothing of
golden bracelets, earrings, or necklaces ; he never even men-
tions the sword. This last fact corresponds to the state of
things in Israel in Samuel's time, when ' there was no smith
found throughout the land of Israel ; for the Philistines said,
lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears : so it came to
pass that in the day of battle there was neither sword nor
spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with
Saul and Jonathan ; only with Saul and Jonathan his son
there were found/ M In one place only does he name either
of the precious metals ; and then Abraham weighs out to
Ephron 400 shekels of silver ' passing current with the mer-
chant.' I7 His language, in short, betrays everywhere a primi-
tive condition of society, before the arts had made progress

11 G.xix.4,9, 30-38, xxxiv, xxxviii, xxxix, ,4 G.vi.11,14.

»* G.ix.6. " iS.xiii. 19,22. ,T Cxxiii. 15,16.

THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS. 23

in Israel Moreover, he makes no allusion to priests or sacri-
fices. All that Jacob does, when he sets up his pillar and
calls the place, where El Shaddai, « God Almighty/ had
appeared to him, by the name of Beth-El, that is, ' House of
God/ is to l pour a drink-offering and oil upon it' u That
priests existed and sacrifices were offered in the writer's
day in Israel, as among the surrounding nations, cannot
be doubted. But, it is clear, he laid no special stress on
priestly matters. He lived at a time when there was no
gorgeous ritual, no splendid temple, no complex system of
sacrifices.

All this agrees closely with the age of Samuel, and other
arguments might be produced which point very strongly in
the same direction, especially the fact that the writer lays
such very great stress upon Abraham's having purchased
from the Hittites the ' field of Machpelah/ the site of the city
of Hebron. He describes, for instance, the conveyance of
this land to Abraham in terms of almost legal precision : —
' The field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was east
of Mamre, the field and the cave that was in it, and all the
trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round
about, were confirmed to Abraham for a possession in the
presence of the sons of Heth, before all that went in at the
gate of the city/ l9 He evidently wished this place to be re-
garded as the most venerable and sacred in the whole land of
Israel. He repeats, again and again, 10 that from the earliest
times it had been acquired by Abraham their great fore-
father, not by conquest or by gift, but by friendly purchase,
that he might secure for himself and his descendants for ever
an incontestable right to it. It had been made the residence
of each of the patriarchs, 81 and there each of them" was buried,

M G. xxxv. 14. w G. xxiii. 1 7, 1 8.

*• G. xxiii 1 7, 1 8, 20, xxv. 10, xlix.30,32, I.13.

fl G. xxiii 2, xxxv. 27, com/, also xxxvu.14, a later insertion.

24 THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS.

as also their wives, Sarah, Rebekah, Leah. 88 How dear, then,
should Hebron be to the affections of every Israelite ! How
touching were all these memories connected with it !

But why so much stress laid on Hebron ? If we turn to
the history we read that, after Saul's death, ' David enquired
of Jehovah saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of
Judah ? And JEHOVAH said unto him, Go up, and David
said, Whither shall I go up ? and He said, Unto Hebron/ M
Thus, by the authority of some priest or prophet, answering
in Jehovah's name, David was directed to make Hebron the
central seat of his government Accordingly for seven years
and a half David reigned over Judah in Hebron, 24 while Ish-
bosheth, Saul's son, reigned over the Ten Tribes at Maha-
nairn. 25 But after Ishbosheth's death 'all the elders of Israel
came to the king to Hebron ; and king David made a league
with them in Hebron before JEHOVAH; and they anointed
David king over Israel.' 86 And now,' being thus strength-
ened, he captures at once the stronghold of Zion from its
Jebusite inhabitants, and makes Jerusalem henceforth his
capital; 87 after which Hebron is named no more in the
history, except that David's rebel son Absalom also set up
his kingdom at Hebron. 26 It seems highly improbable that
so much importance would have been ascribed by the Elohist
to Hebron if he wrote after the first seven years of David's
reign, when Jerusalem had been made the royal city. It is
clear, however, that David's priestly or prophetical advisers
advised him at first to make Hebron his capital. And with
this in view most probably the passages in question in the
Book of Genesis were written — perhaps, as I have said, by
Samuel himself, in accordance with advice which he had
given to his young friend David, 29 whom he had long marked
out as the future king. 30

" G.xxiii.19, xxv.9,10, xlix'31, 1. 13. M 2S.ii.f.

u 2S.ii.11. » 2S.iL8,i2,29. «• 2S.V.3. * 7 2S.v.6,7,i3,i4.

*• 2S.xv.7,9,io. » iS.xix. 18, 19,22. » 1S.xv.28, xvi.1-13.

THE AGE OF THE ELOHIST IN GENESIS. 25

In this way light is thrown upon the origin and contents
of the ' ancient Elohistic document/ And, studied in this
manner, the Book of Genesis becomes most deeply interest-
ing, not only from an historical point of view, as reflecting the
colour of the times in which the different portions of it were
written, but as revealing also the thoughts of our brethren,
quickened by the self-same Spirit as we are, nearly three
thousand years ago — as recording the first movements of
higher Divine Life in the hearts of men of the Hebrew race,
from which our own religious life has been to a great extent
derived, the kindling of that spiritual flame, which in Israel's
worst days was never suffered to be quite extinguished, but,
fed from time to time with fresh supplies from the Eternal
Source, beamed out at length upon the nations bright and
clear, in the full glory of the Teaching of Christ,

LECTURE III.

J

SUMMARY.

The New Lesson for Quinquagesima Sunday; G.ix.1-17 Elohistic, and
pointing to the age of Samuel; G.ix.28,29, Elohistic like G.v.; the cri-
teria which distinguish the Elohistic passages; only these show signs of
continuity ; the Jehovistic accounts of the Creation and Fall, Cain and his
descendants, and the race of giants ; the probable origin of this legend of a
giant race ; the older story is sometimes merely retouched by the Jehovist,
as in the notice of Noah's birth in G.v. and the account of the Flood;
contradictions introduced by these insertions; final proof of the Elohist
having lived in the age of Samuel ; first indication of the Jehovist having
lived in the age of David or Solomon ; the rainbow, a true sign of God's
Covenant with man.

THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS.

£HE First Lesson for Quinquagesima Sunday in the
New Lectionary ends with G.ix.19. It would
have ended more properly with v>i7, because here
ends the older passage which forms the main
portion of the chapter. Throughout this section, G.ix.1-17,
which relates what occurred immediately after the Flood, we
find precisely the same style and phraseology as marks the
first account of the Creation. Thus we read in 7M, 'And
ELOHIM blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them,
Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth ' ; and so we
find in G.i.28, ' And Elohim blessed them and Elohim
said, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and
subdue it ' : in the one case there follows, ' and the fear of you
and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth,
and upon every fowl of the air, and upon all that moveth upon
the ground, and upon the fish of the sea— into your hand
they are delivered ' ; and so we read in the other passage,
'and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the
earth.' We have evidently the same writer in both passages ;
and it is that older writer of the age of Samuel — very possibly
Samuel himself — who uses everywhere the word Elohim,
' God/ in speaking of the Divine Being, and abstains from

30 THE JE HO VI STIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS.

using the name JEHOVAH. He tells us here how after the
Flood ELOHIM gave to man every living thing for food, as
well as the green herb which alone had been hitherto allowed, 1
but strenuously forbad both the shedding of human blood and
the eating of blood ; and so in the age of Samuel we find
recorded a remarkable instance — indeed the only one men-
tioned in the whole history — of the people eating with blood.
'And they smote the Philistines that day, and the people were
very faint ; and the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep
and oxen and calves and slew them on the ground, and the
people did eat them with the blood. And they told Saul
saying, ' Behold ! the people sin against Jehovah in that they
eat with the blood/ a He then tells us how ELOHIM ' estab-
lished a covenant' with Noah that there 'should be no more
a flood to destroy the earth/ and makes the rainbow appear
for the first time as the sign of that covenant, being ignorant,
of course, of the physical fact that, whenever the sunshine
fell upon the shower before the Flood, the rainbow must have
appeared in the sky.

To this same Elohistic writer belongs also the notice in
G.ix.28,29, about Noah living 350 years after the Flood,
and 950 years altogether. It is true, the name of the Deity
does not occur here at all. But the style of these verses
corresponds exactly with that of G.v, with its list of patriarchs
before the Flood from Adam to Noah, living most of them
more than 900 years ; and in this we find repeatedly the name
' ELOHIM ' used — ' In the day that ELOHIM created man, in
the likeness of ELOHIM made He him.' ' And Enoch walked
with ELOHIM three hundred years and begat sons and
daughters/ ' And Enoch walked with ELOHIM and he was
not, for Elohim took him/ *

And this leads me to make a remark, the neglect of which

1 G.i.r9,30. • iS.xiv.32,33. » G.v. 1,22,24.

THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS. 31

has led many persons, only imperfectly informed *upon this
subject, 4 into great mistakes and a total misapprehension of
the method of Modern Biblical Criticism. What I mean is
this, that the Elohistic matter in Genesis is not distinguished
from the rest by critics merely by noting the use of the
Divine Name ; for here we find two verses, which are clearly
seen, from a comparison with G.v, to belong to the Elohist,
but which do not contain ' Elohim ' at all. On the other
hand, there are passages in which Elohim frequently occurs,
sometimes even exclusively, without any mention of the name
Jehovah, but which are as clearly seen not to belong to the
older writer, because their style and phraseology differ entirely
from his. 6 It is the combination of two things — the constant
use of Elohim, or the deliberate suppression of Jehovah, 8
and the agreement in thought and expression with that of
the older writer — which alone can determine whether any par-
ticular passage belongs to the Elohist or not. But, by carefully
attending to this principle, and closely examining every line,
nay, every word of the Book of Genesis, the Elohistic matter
has been separated from the rest ; and these passages, as I
have said, when thus extracted, are found to compose a
complete, consistent narrative, with scarcely a break or inter-
ruption from beginning to end. As one has written — ' What-
ever may be the truth concerning the origin of the different
narratives constituting the present Book of Genesis, two facts

4 e.g., Bp. Browne (B.C., p. 133, 135, 137, 159), see my Commentary on
B.C. (Genesis, 115,119,120,133).

• e.g., G.xx.1-17, xjci.8-34, rxii.l-13, xl-xlviii.

• The sole exception to this is in G.xvii. I, where Jehovah occurs in an Elo-
histic passage. But the exception in this case proves the rule. If the Elohist
has used everywhere else invariably Elohim in his narrative (87 times), and
never Jehovah, it is plain that its occurrence in this single instance must be
ascribed either to the slip of a copyist or else to the fact of the writer himself
having inadvertently broken his rule, and used Jehovah, a name with which he was
himself familiar. In the rest of the chapter he employs only Elohim for the
personal name of the Deity, v. 1,3,9, 15, 18,22,23.

32 THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES /N GENESIS.

are certain— (i) That it contains but one set of passages } in
which anything like a continuous story of the antediluvian
and patriarchal ages can be traced ; (ii) That it does contain
such a set of passages, distinguished by marked peculiarities
of language, which, when all the other passages (where these
peculiarities do not occur) are struck out, may be read con-
tinuously without the addition or omission of a single word,
except in two or three cases, where very large additions to
the original story appear to have been made, and some por-
tions of it to have been struck out. All the other parts of
Genesis, though often forming continuous narratives of con*
siderable length, require this original story as the thread to
hold them together, and cannot be combined into an in-
dependent history complete in itself without arbitrary additions
or transpositions/ 7

This ancient Elohistic Narrative, then, the Jehovist had
before him ; and he enlarged and enlivened it by introducing
a number of passages recording additional incidents in the
lives of the patriarchs before and after the Flood, and especially
by inserting the second account of the Creation ii.4a-2S, 8 with
its description of the planting of the garden of Eden and
of the four mighty rivers which watered it. One of these
rivers is named as the Euphrates, and the others are identified
by scholars with the Indus, the Nile, and the Tigris, which
are here supposed to be derived from one common source,
and to flow thence in different directions, the Indus to the
East, the Nile to the South, the Tigris to the North, the
Euphrates to the West, according to the vague geographical
notions of those times. So even, a thousand years later,
Josephus in his explanation of this passage regards the

T E. V. Neale (Genesis Critically Examined, p.vi).

1 v.4a belongs to the Elohist, and was probably removed from its original
position at the beginning of G. i, (comp. the similar expressions at the beginning
of histories, v. I, vi.9, xi. 10,27, xxv. 12,19, xxxvi. 1,9, xxxvii.2a), in order to form
the commencement of the Jehovistic account of the Creation.

THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS. 33

Euphrates, Tigris, and Nile, as branches of the same river ;
but, instead of the Indus, he reckons the Ganges. 9 Then
the Jehovist goes on to tell us how the man, whom Jehovah
had formed, was placed in the garden and charged not to eat
of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and how the animals
of all kinds were brought to him from all parts of the earth,
from all extremes of climate, the White Bear of the Frozen
North and the Humming-bird of the Tropics, the beasts and
birds of prey and their ordinary victims, and he gave names
to them all. Finally he informs us that, while all the other
creatures had mates, the Lord God (Jehovah Elohim) saw
that the man had none ; ' and the Lord God caused a deep
sleep to fall upon the man and he slept ; and the rib, which
the Lord God had taken from the man, made He a woman
and brought her unto the man.' Thus in this second account
of the Creation the man is apparently created the first, and
the woman is certainly created the last, of all living creatures ;
whereas in the older story the man and woman are created
last of all, as the crowning work of ELOHIM, and are created
together — 'And ELOHIM created man in His own image, in
the image of Elohim created He him ; male and female
created He them/ l0

Next he describes the Temptation and the Fall, 11 the sin
and punishment of Cain, 18 and the progress of the arts of
cattle-keeping, music, and smithery among his descendants ; ,3
and he tells us how the ' sons of God ' took wives of the
beautiful ' daughters of men/ and from them sprung a race
of mighty heroes, 'which were of old, men of renown/ 14
' There were giants too in the earth in those days ' l5 — a tra-
dition which is found to exist among most nations, and has
probably arisen from the discoveries of huge bones which have
been ignorantly supposed to be human. Perhaps this tradition

• Ant. I.i.3. ,# G.i.27. " G.iii. " G.iv.1-16,

M G.iv. 17-22. u G.vi.1-4. >• G.vi.4.

D

34 THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS.

derived some support among the ancients from the gigantic
statues and vast architectural structures of Egypt, Assyria,
and Greece, and especially among the Hebrews from the
massive ruins in the trans-Jordanic lands, where sarcophagi
of huge size, made of the black basalt of the country, are now
used as water-troughs, one of which is spoken of in D.iii.n
as the ' iron bedstead ' of Og the king of Bashan ; ' nine cubits
was the length thereof and four cubits the breadth of it*
— that is, it was 16 feet long and 7 feet broad. Even now,
as travellers tell us, many of these stone coffins exist in this
region, of vast dimensions. 16 But no human remains of such
gigantic size have as yet been discovered. Josephus indeed
says, speaking of the time of the Judges, ' At this time also
remained .some of the race of giants, who for bigness of body
and terrible aspect were very unlike other men ; the sight of
them was astonishing, being a thing fearful to be told ; their
bones are yet to be seen, but so large as to exceed all belief. , l7
But these bones, 18 no doubt, belonged to huge extinct animals,
which were mistaken by the ancients for human remains ; as
St. Augustine tells us of a tooth which he saw, a hundred times
larger than ordinary teeth, 19 and which in all probability
once belonged to an elephant. So Virgil supposed that there
was not only a diminution in size of the human race from
primeval times, but that this diminution would continue in
the ages to come ; and, speaking of the slaughter on one of
the great battle-fields of his own time, he pictures the pigmy
ploughman of later days going over the ground centuries
afterwards, and marvelling at the huge bones turned out from
the dug-up graves. 20 But in truth there is no sign of any

M BURCKHARDT, pp. 220,246, ROBINSON, III.p.658, SEETZEN, I.pp.355,360,
quoted by Keil, 1 1, p. 409. ,T Ant. V.ii.3.

19 That is, if any such bones were really to be seen in Palestine in the time
of Josephus, who is not a very trustworthy authority on such points.

»• De Civ. Dei, xv.9. - ,0 Georg., I.497.

THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS. 35

such change having taken place in the stature of the human
race from the earliest times of which we have any knowledge
till now. The remains found in ancient tombs and pyramids
are enough to show this, since they correspond generally in
stature and size to the men of our own times. As one has
said — ' Looking upward from the base of the Great Pyramid,
we might suppose it the work of giants ; but it is entered by
passages admitting with difficulty a man of the present size,
and we find in the centre a sarcophagus about six feet long.' al
The story in Genesis now passes on to the account of the
Flood, which was sent, says the Elohist, because ' the earth
was corrupt before Elohim and the earth was filled with
violence ' ; M which statement the Jehovist expands and em-
phasizes in his own peculiar style as follows : ' And ELOHIM
saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that He had
made man on the earth, and Jehovah said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the ground, both man
and beast and creeping thing and fowl of the heaven : for it
repenteth Me that I have made them.' aa Thus this later
writer has not only inserted whole stories of his own, but he
has retouched the more ancient narrative, where it seemed to
want point and force, or to need some additional feature.
He has done this already in G.v, in the list of the antediluvian
patriarchs, which belongs undoubtedly to the older writer, and
must have originally contained an account of the birth of Noah,
exactly similar in form to those of the seven preceding
patriarchs ; that is to say, the Elohist must have written, as
in all the other instances, 'And Lamech lived 182 years and
begat Noah/ But the Jehovist has retouched the passage
and it now stands thus — 'And Lamech lived 182 years and

■' KEKRICK, Prinuev. Hist. p. 74. n G.vi.n. M G.vi.5-7.

D 2

36 THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS.

begat a son, and he called his name Noah, saying, This same
shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands,
because of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed ' a4 — where
we have not only the name 'Jehovah/ but a distinct reference
to the curse pronounced upon the ground after the Fall and
the work and toil imposed on Adam — ' Cursed is the ground
for thy sake ; in sorrow — that is, in toilsome labour — shalt
thou eat of it all the days of thy life ' afi — all which belongs
to the same hand.

Accordingly, the Jehovist does not give us a second account
of the Flood, as he has done of the Creation ; he merely
retouches the older story, and sometimes not very felicitously.
The Elohist, for instance, makes Elohim command Noah to
bring 'of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, into
the Ark, male and female/ * The Jehovist makes Jehovah say
unto Noah, ' Of every clean beast thou shalt take into the Ark
by sevens, the male and the female, and of the beasts that are
riot clean by (wo, the male and the female, of fowls also of the
heaven by sevens, the male and the female ' ; w and the reason
for his doing this is plain, because he wishes to introduce a
sacrifice of thanksgiving after the Flood, and he needs these
seven pairs of clean beasts and birds that Noah ' may build an
altar unto JEHOVAH, and take of every clean beast and every
clean fowl, and offer burnt-offerings on the altar ' ; whereupon,
he says, 'Jehovah smelled a sweet savour, and Jehovah said
in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for
man's sake/ M Again, in the midst of the older account
of Noah and the other human and brute creatures coming out
of the Ark, the Jehovist has inserted this clause, ' and Noah
removed the covering of the Ark and looked, and lo ! the face
of the ground was dry ;' and this took place on ' the first day
of the first month/ M But Noah and the rest came out of the

* G.v.28,29. » G.iii. 17-19. * e G.vi. 19,20, comp. vii.8,9,15,16.

»' G.vii.2,3. n G.viii. 20-22. » G.viii.13.

THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS. 37

Ark on ' the twenty-seventh day of the second month ' * — from
which it follows that, in consequence of this injudicious insertion,
the Ark remains uncovered for nearly two months, the ground
being dry, and yet none of the birds or insects flew away !

I have said that the Elohistic Narrative was probably
written in the age of Samuel, and have given some reasons
which lead to that conclusion, 31 and I will now add another.
To this writer belongs G.xxxvi, which is for the most part
a mere dry catalogue of names of the sons or descendants
of Esau or Edom — in other words, a list of the principal
Edomite tribes as they existed in the writer's time. To the
eye of most readers this catalogue will have but an uninviting,
dreary aspect, just as a list of Scottish clans and their remote
ancestors would not be very attractive to an ordinary English
student of history. But what if we found in such an ancient
Scottish register a passage like this — 'And these are the
kings that reigned in Scotland, before there reigned any king
over the people of England ' ? Should we not at once infer
that, at the time when such words were written, England
had already been ruled by a king, though possibly only by
one? And so, when we read in G.xxxvi. 31, 'These are the
kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before the reigning
of a king over the children of Israel/ we conclude that this
passage could not have been written before the age of Saul,
the first king of Israel, or, in other words, before the age of
Samuel. But may it not have been written in a still later age ?
Let us look more closely at this list of Edomite kings. They
are eight in number, and in each instance the king's death and
the name of his successor are mentioned in precisely the
same form — e.g., ' and Bela died, and Jobab, son of Zerah of
Bozrah, reigned in his stead ' M — except in the case of the
last king, Hadar or liadad. The death of Hadad is not

•• G.viii.14, &c< « p. 15-17. n G.xxxvi. 33.

38 THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS.

mentioned : we read only, ' And Baal-hanan, son of Achbor,
died, and Hadad reigned in his stead, and the name of his city
was Pau, and his wife's name was Mehetabel, daughter of
Matred, daughter of Mezahab.' M The writer evidently knew
a great deal more about this king Hadad than about any of
the others, since he mentions not only his city and the name
of his wife, but the names also of her mother and grandfather.
Now, since he does not mention his death or name his successor,
as in all the other instances, it is plain that Hadad was still
living when this passage was written. Therefore, since all
these reigned before there was a king in Israel, it follows
that Hadad must have reigned in Edom before Saul's time ;
again, as he was not dead at the time when this passage was
written, he must have been reigning also after Saul became
king over Israel ; so that this list must have been composed
in the age — and therefore, very probably, by the hand —
of Samuel.

But, if the Elohist lived in Samuel's time, when did the
later writer, the Jehovist, live ? We have seen that G.ix.1-17
and also f.28,29 belong to the Elohist. But between these
two passages the Jehovist has inserted a section, which betrays
unmistakably his style, not only by the use of the name
Jehovah, * Blessed be Jehovah, the Elohim of Shem !', but
by the phraseology throughout, as may be seen in critical
works. 84 It is obvious that the main object aimed at in this
passage is to throw contempt and reproach upon Canaan. He
is not descended from Shem, as the Hebrews were, but he is
a son of Ham, and a heavy curse is laid upon his head
by his grandfather Noah — ' Cursed be Canaan ! a servant of
servants shall he be unto his brethren. Blessed be JEHOVAH,
the Elohim of Shem ! and Canaan shall be his servant.
Elohim shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents

» G.xxxvi.39. u Pent, V. ^irf.47,48.

THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS. 39

of Shem, and Canaan sliall be his servant' M Why all this
stress laid upon Canaan becoming a servant — that is, a slave
to Shem and Japheth — 'a servant of servants unto his brethren'
— a slave of slaves ? We know how modern slave-holders have
wrested this curse into a reason for reducing all black races
— supposed to be the children of Ham — into slavery, forgetting
the fact that the curse is not pronounced upon the sons of
Ham generally, but solely upon the Canaanites.

Manifestly the passage before us seeks to find a justification
for the manner in which the Canaanites were subdued and
subjected by the Israelites in Solomon's time. The history
of Samuel, Saul, and David, exhibits no evidence whatever
of such complete prostration of the Canaanite tribes under
the feet of their Israelitish masters. On the contrary, it is
noted that in Samuel's time 'there was peace between Israel
and the A tnorites';* 6 while in the earlier part of David's reign
the Jebusites possessed the stronghold of Zion and for a while
defied him. 87 It is not till Solomon's time that we read—
'All the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites,
Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites' — in one word, all the people
that were left of the Canaanites — ' who were not of the children
of Israel, their children that were left after them in the land,
whom the children of Israel also were not able to exterminate,
upon these did Solomon levy a tribute of bond-service unto
this day.' 38 Yes ! let Solomon make bondslaves of the sons
of Canaan ; for did not Noah say of old, ' Cursed be Canaan !
a slave of slaves shall he be to his brethren ' ?

Thus the passage was probably written, perhaps by one
of Samuel's pupils, such as Nathan the prophet, in the early
part of Solomon's reign, or even somewhat earlier, in the latter
part of David's reign, when the idea of exacting this bond-
service from the Canaanites may have been already entertained.

•» G.ix.25,27. •• 1S.vii.14.

91 2S.V.6-8. " iK.ix.20,21.

40 THE JEHOVISTIC PASSAGES IN GENESIS.

How different from the tone of this passage — how far more
grand, having the character of a true inspiration — was the
thought of the Elohist, who has just before made the rainbow
the sign of God's everlasting covenant of grace to man ! We
may fall back with a sure quiet trust on the firm ground of
this unanswerable argument, that He who has made not only
the rainbow, but other things around us so beautiful, and has
given us eyes to see and hearts to appreciate the wisdom and
goodness of His works, has surely kind and gracious thoughts
towards us. He would not mock a world lying under a curse
— a ' slave of slaves ' to the spirit of evil — a race of whom (as
some suppose) the vast majority are doomed to everlasting
woe — with these bright exhibitions of His Fatherly Love.
Whether Adam fell in Paradise or not, whether Noah was
saved in the Ark or not, whether the cities of the plain were
destroyed for their wickedness or not, yet in the minds of
those who wrote those stories of old there was a deep and true
conviction of the evil nature of sin and its terrible consequences.
But so, too, to the minds of pious men of old it was revealed
that the heaven and the earth are the work of the Great Creator,
that the blessed light came forth at the word of God, and
that man himself is made in his Maker's image. We feel
the bonds of our common humanity drawn yet more closely
around us when we see that in those days, as now, the Presence
of a Heavenly Friend was realised as ever near to each faithful
soul, ready to comfort, strengthen, bless, or, if need be, to
correct and chasten — nay, that to their eyes, as to ours, the
gracious signs of nature were witnessing of an eternal bond
between the Father of spirits and His children, and the bright
beauty of the rainbow after the storm — the simple fact that,
notwithstanding all our provocations, God still gives us power
to see and to enjoy His Goodness — was regarded as a token
of the continuance of His loving care for us; an assurance and
pledge of forgiveness, restoration, and peace.

LECTURE IV.

SUMMARY.

The New Lesson for the First Sunday in Lent, G.xix. 12-29, a Jehovistic
passage, except v. 29 ; this and other short fragments of the older story
preserved with scrupulous care, which shows the respect paid to it, probably
by Samuel's disciples after his death, and enables us to reconstruct it almost
in its original form ; the Jehovistic passages in Genesis may have been all
written by one hand ; G.xiv.xv., not included in these ; the name 'Jehovah*
used more freely in some of them than in others ; all indications of time
place the Jehovist in the age of David and Solomon, e.g. extended geo-
graphical knowledge, signs of progress in the arts and familiarity with the
customs of courts, and especially the prophecy of Edom's throwing off the
yoke of Israel ; the composite character of Genesis gives a confused view
of the patriarchs, especially of Abraham ; the primary Elohistic account
of Abraham ; the patriarch's hope at Sarah's grave compared with that of the
Christian.

THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

\ N my previous Lectures I have set before you the
main distinctions between the ancient Elohistic
Narrative and the later insertions in the Book of
Genesis. Especially I have mentioned that the
older writer is distinguished everywhere, not merely by his
using constantly the name ' Elohim ' to the exclusion of
' Jehovah/ but by a characteristic phraseology.

Let us take, for instance, the section G.xix. 12-29, ap-
pointed in the New Lectionary as the First Lesson for the
First Sunday in Lent In this whole section, except in 1/.29,
the name of Jehovah is continually employed — ' the cry of
them is waxen great before Jehovah, and Jehovah hath
sent us to destroy it* — 'up, get you out of this place, for
Jehovah will destroy this city* — 'Jehovah being merciful
unto him* — 'then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon
Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven'
— ' and Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place
where he stood before Jehovah/ l In all these places the
English Bible has ' the Lord/ printed in capital letters, by
which our older translators, in imitation of the Septuagint
and Vulgate, have represented everywhere the name 'Jehovah',

1 v. 13, 14, 16,24,27.

44 THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

obscuring frequently the sense by so doing — a defect which
will doubtless be amended in the New Translation. But in
v. 1 8, 'And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord/ the
word ' Lord ' is printed in ordinary type ; and here it means no
more than it would in common English, viz., 'Master* or 'Sir/
as an expression of respect. The Lesson in this case, however,
begins most abruptly, ' And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou
here any besides ? ' ; and the reason of this is, that the New
Lectionary omits the offensive passage with which the chapter
begins and which used to be read among the Sunday Lessons, 2
as even the former Lectionary omitted that with which it
ends 8 — both of which, though they do not either of them con-
tain the name of the Deity, belong undoubtedly to the Jehovist,
since they resemble closely the other passages due to this
writer, not only in expression and style, but in subject-
matter, all the stories in Genesis of a similar character having
come from his hand.

But in the midst of this Jehovistic matter, at the end of
the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
occur the words of Z/.29, 4 And it came to pass, when Elohim
destroyed the cities of the plain, that ELOHIM remembered
Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow,
when He overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt* Hitherto
in this story, in this and the preceding chapter, only
JEHOVAH has been used, altogether seventeen times, and
never once Elohim. How can it be supposed that the same
writer would suddenly change his style and use only ELOHIM
in one single verse as here ? And how strange it would
be if, after giving a long detailed account of these occur-
rences, of the visit of JEHOVAH to Abraham, the destruction
of the cities, and the deliverance of Lot, he had added this
notice at the end, just as if none of these things had been

* v.i-n. ■ ^.30-38.

THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS. 45

before related at all ! This verse, in short, is part of the
Elohistic Narrative, and contains all that the Elohist said
upon the subject; and in that Narrative, when extracted
and read by itself, it will be found to take its place very
properly, though in its present position it forms but a tame
and spiritless conclusion after the long and striking cir-
cumstantial story of the Jehovist. And we find here
repeated the phraseology of the older writer. As before
he had mentioned that ' Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain/ 4
so here he speaks of ' Elohim destroying the cities of the
plain,' and 'overthrowing the cities in which Lot dwelt.'
As before he said that 'Elohim remembered Noah/ 5 so here
he says that ' Elohim remembered Abraham.' Beyond all
doubt, therefore, it belongs to the Elohist ; and, as it lay
before the later writer in the older story, it formed the
text — the thetna, as it were — upon which the latter has
composed his own vivacious narrative in these two chap-
ters, with which he has supplemented the very brief Elohistic
notice.

I have also given reasons for supposing that the Elohistic
Narrative was composed in the age, and therefore probably
by the hand, of the great Reformer Samuel, for the use of
the students in the schools which he established, and over
which indeed towards the close of his life we find him
apparently presiding. 6 It is very natural that after his
death it should have been retouched, embellished, and
enlarged, by some one or more of his favourite disciples,
in the next age, the age of David and Solomon. It would
seem almost certain that this would happen. Their Mas-
ter's work may have beeri left by his death in his pupils'
hands unfinished ; they may have been advised by him or
charged to complete it, or their own feelings may have

* G.xiii. I2a. • G.viii.i. • iS.xix.20.

46 THE AGE OF THE JEH OVIST IN GENESIS.

prompted them to do so. Even during his lifetime, and
under his eye and direction, they may have been practised
already in such labours; and we read, in fact, of the 'Book
of Jashar' 7 and the 'Book of the Wars of JEHOVAH,' 8 which
have altogether disappeared, but were probably composed
in these schools. It is e&sy to believe that the reverence
paid to the Master in such a case would protect as far as
possible the identical words which he had written, so that
the first account of the Creation was retained, with all its
supposed defects, when the second was inserted ; whereas,
instead of the older story of the Flood being cancelled
and another substituted in its place, almost every line and
letter of the more ancient story has been preserved, the
later writer having contented himself with merely inter-
lining, as it were, his own additional insertions ; and so,
too, the short Elohistic notice has been left about the over-
throw of the cities of the plain, though rendered quite
unnecessary and superfluous by the long Jehovistic story
which precedes it. It is this scrupulous care to preserve
every word of the more ancient Narrative, which enables
us to extract that Narrative from the whole Book of
Genesis almost in its complete form as an unbroken history ;
and such scrupulosity, as I have said, would be only natural
in a writer who undertook to carry on and supplement his
great Master's work when he was gone.

Accordingly in my last Lecture I showed that some
portion of the Jehovistic matter in Genesis was most
probably composed either in the first years of Solomon's
reign or the last of David's. According to the usual
chronology Samuel died about f6ur years before the death
of Saul, and then David reigned for 40^ years. 9 Thus
about 45 years elapsed between Samuel's death and Solomon's

T J.x.13, 2S.U8. » N.xxi.X4. • 2S.V.5.

THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS. 47

accession; so that one and the same disciple of Samuel —
such as Nathan — might have made additions to the older
story at different times, and, if 20 years old at his Master's
decease, would be not older than 70, if writing in the fifth
year of Solomon. It seems possible that this is really the
case, viz., that the Jehovistic parts of Genesis were almost
all written by the same hand, as they exhibit everywhere the
same peculiar phrases and modes of thought and feeling.
G.xiv, however, is marked by a distinct phraseology of its
own, and, though belonging to the same age, was no doubt
contributed by another writer. G.xv also shows signs of
a much later age, and with some few other small insertions
in Genesis 10 belongs to a writer of whom *I shall speak more
at length hereafter, who lived four centuries afterwards,
and who seems to have edited the story, as it had come
into his hands, with amplifications of his own. But
otherwise the supplementary portions of Genesis all betray
the same peculiarities of style, and may all perhaps be due
to one and the same hand, though written, it may be, at
different intervals in the space of half a century, during
the latter years of Saul, the whole reign of David, and the
first years of Solomon. In some of these Elohim is used
exclusively, 11 and not Jehovah at all ; in others Jehovah
is used, but sparingly ; 1J in others Jehovah is used
very freely ; 18 but in all the same phraseology occurs en-
tirely distinct from that of the Elohist. It would seem
as if the writer began by following the example of his
predecessor, using only ELOHIM, but in the later portions of
his work, for some reason or other, employed more familiarly
the name Jehovah. Perhaps we may see hereafter more

>• G.vi.4, x.8-12, xv.1-21, xviii. 18,19, xxii. 14-18, xxiv. 59,60, xxvi.4,5,
xxviii. 15,20-22, xxxi.13, xxxv. 2-4, as shown in Pent. (V. 66, VI. 482.)
11 e.g. G.xx.i-i7,xxi.8-2o. " e.g. G.xxi. 33,34, XXU.1-X3.

M e.g.G. xviii, xix.

48 THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

clearly the reason of this. Meanwhile it is possible, of course,
as some eminent critics maintain, that other writers, even of
different ages, may have contributed parts of the Jehovistic
matter, employing a somewhat similar phraseology, especially
when we remember that an oriental tongue, as, for instance,
the Arabic, 14 may remain unchanged for centuries. But there
is no necessity as yet for supposing this in the present instance,
since every sign of time, which has hitherto been detected in
these passages, seems to point to the age of David and
Solomon, and therefore very possibly to one and the same
writer.

Look, for instance, at the extended geographical know-
ledge displayed in these passages — the four great rivers in
G.ii. 10-14, the seventy nations in G.x — a sign of that more
intimate acquaintance with Phoenician commerce, which
existed in the latter years of David and the first of Solomon,
when ' Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servant unto Solomon,
for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the
room of his father, for Hiram was ever a lover of David.' 15
It is here also that we read of Abraham being rich not
only in flocks and herds, camels and he-asses, 16 but in
silver and gold, 17 and of his producing out of his treasures
for Rebekah, his son's bride-elect, * a golden nose-ring and
bracelets,' ' jewels of silver and jewels of gold.' 18 It is
here we find mention made of ' instruments of music ' and
* working in brass and iron ' 19 — of the ' servants of Pharaoh,' *°
the ' servants of Abimelech,' ,! and of the large household of
'menservants and maidservants' belonging to Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob" — all signs of a great advance in civilization
from the days of Samuel and Saul, when at one time ' there

14 Palgrave {Ara6ia t l.p. 311.) »* 1K.V.1. '• G.xxiv.35.

,f G.xiii.2, xxiv.35. " G.xxiv.22,53. w G.iv.21,22.

» G.xl.20, xli. 10,37,38, &c. " G.xx.8,xxi.25, &c.

** G.xxiv.35, xxvi.14, xxx. 43.

THE AGE OF THE J EH OVIST IN GENESIS. 49

was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel/ w and
giving evidence of some familiarity with the customs of
royalty, as in an age when the arts had made considerable
progress, such as that in which first the Tabernacle of David
and then the palaces and Temple of Solomon were built in
Jerusalem, the last with the aid of Phoenician workmen.

It is the Jehovist again who predicts that Esau or Edom
shall be subject to his younger brother Jacob or Israel in
the following words addressed to their mother Rebekah ; —

' Two nations are in thy womb,
And two folks shall be separated from thy bowels ;
And folk shall be stronger than folk,
And the elder shall serve the younger.'**

This passage, if we regard it as merely reflecting contem-
porary history, refers plainly to the subjection of the
Edomites to Israel in David's days, when ' David put
garrisons in Edom, throughout all Edom put he garrisons ;
and all they of Edom became David's servants/ ** And
the bitter enmity between Edom and Israel which resulted
from this assumption of sovereignty, the younger brother
taking the right of pre-eminence, which belonged by the
order of birth to the older people, and claiming to lord it
over the neighbouring tribes — an enmity which was deepened
into a deadly and inveterate hatred, by the defeat of David's
forces on one occasion, and the cruel revenge which Joab
took in consequence, when he * went up to bury the slain ' of
Israel 36 — is strikingly shadowed forth in another Jehovistic
passage, 'And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing
wherewith his father had blessed him ; and Esau said in his
heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand ; then
will I slay my brother Jacob/ n

This prediction, therefore, of Israel's supremacy over Edom

«■ 1S.xiii.19. » 4 G.xxv.23. . ** 2S.viii.14.

*• 1K.xi.16. " G.xxvii.41.

E

So THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

was very probably written in David's time. But we find
afterwards another prediction put into the mouth of Isaac and
addressed to Esau himself, as follows : —

* By thy sword shalt thou live,
And thou shalt serve thy brother ;
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have rule,
That thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.' n

It is certain that Edom did remain a 'servant ' to his '.younger
brother ' Israel during the latter part of David's reign, having
been thoroughly crushed by Joab's massacre, and held in
awe by David's garrisons. But the very fact that David was
obliged to place 'garrisons' in the country, in order to
maintain his authority in it — a fact which is repeated, with
special emphasis, 'throughout all Edom put he garrisons' —
implies that he was not perfectly secure of his position — that
there was a certain stubborn unwillingness on the part of the
Edomite people to submit to his yoke. And accordingly we
find that in the very beginning of Solomon's reign, as soon as
ever the triumphant conqueror David and David's great
captain Joab were dead, Hadad the Edomite, a fugitive
prince, who had escaped when quite young from Joab's
massacre, 89 — very possibly the son or grandson of that same
Hadad whom the Elohist mentions last in the list of Edomite
kings before there was any king in Israel, 80 and who was
reigning, as we saw, in Samuel's time, 81 -»-raised the standard
of revolt against the rule of Solomon/ 2 as Rezon also did in
Syria ; M and, no doubt, both succeeded in shaking off the
yoke of Israel. With respect to Rezon, indeed, our English
Bible tells us, ' He was an adversary to Israel all the days of
Solomon, together with the evil which Hadad did : and he
abhorred Israel and reigned over Syria.' 84 But the Greek
translation omits all mention of Rezon and Syria, and says,

* G.xxvii.40. «• iK.xi. 14-20. ■• G.xxxvi.31-39. i! p. 37,38.

* lK.xi.2i, 22. n iK.xi.23.24. . * lK.xi.25.

THE ACE OF THE J E HO VIST IN GENESIS. $i

' This is the mischief which Hadad did, and he vexed Israel
and reigned in the land of Edom/ M Thus this second predic-
tion which says of Edom, 'Thou shalt serve thy brother
Israel, but, when thou shalt have rule, thou shalt break his
yoke from off thy neck/ may have been written in the early
days of Solomon.

Such are some of the reasons which help us to fix the
composition of the Jehovistic insertions in Genesis in the
reign of David and the early part of Solomon's reign ; and
these may suffice for the present. I will only now draw your
attention to the fact that, in consequence of the composite
character of the Book of Genesis, it must necessarily follow
that we obtain but a broken and distorted view of the life
and character of any one of the patriarchs, as meant to be
exhibited by the original writer. This is a point of very
great interest, and, of course it is altogether ignored by
ordinary readers and expositors of the Bible. We often
hear, for instance, the character of Abraham set forth as a
model of excellence for the imitation of all ages. But what
Abraham? — which of the three or four Abrahams whose
doings are mixed up in utter confusion by the different
writers concerned in the composition of Genesis ? How per-
plexing it is to find, in the account of the 'father of the
faithful/ the record of conduct so mean and unworthy as that
related of him in one place, where he prompts Sarah to say
that she was his sister instead of his wife, and exposes her to
injury in the Court of Pharaoh in order to screen himself
from harm,* 6 and then in another place to find him, at the
end of twenty years, repeating the same base act in the Court
of Abimelech, 87 when Sarah was already ' old and well-
stricken in years/ 38 in fact ninety years old, 89 yet expected
soon to be the mother of a firstborn son, 40 the child of

■* lK.xi.22 (Vat. M.S.) M G.xii.10-20. ■» G.xx.1-18.

■• G.xviii.u. *• G.xvii. 17. *• G.xviii. 14, xxi.2.

52 THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS.

promise, the centre of such great hopes, the reward of so
many years of patient faith and expectation !

But nothing of all this appears in the original Elohistic
Narrative, which in its grand simplicity represents each one
of the patriarchs, as I have said, without any flaw in his
character. In that Narrative Abraham migrates of his own
accord, without having received any miraculous call, from
Charran to Canaan, 41 carrying out in so doing the purpose
of his father. 42 He dwells in the land of Canaan, 43 and there
Hagar bears him a son Ishmael, 'for Sarah had no children.' 44
But many years afterwards, in his old age, the Deity appears
to him saying, ' I am (El Shaddai) God Almighty/ and
covenants to give to him and to his seed after him the land
of his sojournings, 45 commanding the rite of circumcision to
be observed as the sign and seal of the covenant, 46 and
promising a son to him by Sarah. 47 Abraham obeys the
command, 48 and receives the promised son, and circumcises
6im. 49 His wife Sarah dies, and he buys from the sons of
Heth the burying-place at Hebron, where he buries Sarah, 50
and where he himself is buried by his two sons, Ishmael and
Isaac, ' in a ripe old age, an old man and full of years, and he
was gathered unto his people.' 6I

And this is all the genuine original story of Abraham !
This is the real Abraham of the Bible, the Abraham of the
Elohist We have here no warlike sheikh, with his 318
trained servants all born in his house, going to do battle
with five confederate kings M — no expulsion of Ishmael/ 3 no
purpose of sacrificing Isaac, 64 no marrying another wife or
wives and begetting six sons, 55 either during Sarah's life-time,
when Abraham was above a hundred years old, 56 or after her

41 G.xii.5. « G.xi.31. 4t G.xiii.i2a. 44 G.xvi.1,3,15,16.

4 * G.xvii.i 8. «• G.xvii.9-14. 47 G.xvii. 15-22. w G.xvii.23-27.

• G.xxi.2-5. *° G.xxiii.l-20. n G.xxv.7-10. M -G.xiv.

•» G.xxi.9-21. w G.xxii.1-13. •» G. xx v.i -6. M G.xxi.5.

THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN GENESIS. 53

death, when he was 137 years old, 57 though it seemed to
himself incredible that a son should be born to him even at
99 58 — above all, no miserable subterfuge at the Court of
Pharaoh,* 9 or still more reprehensible repetition of the fault at
the Court of Abimelech. 60 All these additions, which have
been made by later writers, are mere refractions and distor-
tions of the older story, and mar the simple dignity of the
patriarch's character as there portrayed.

Still the Elohist can touch our hearts as men when he places
us beside that cave in the field of Machpelah, and describes
for us the affecting scene, how 'Abraham came down to
mourn for Sarah and to weep for her/ 61 and ' stood up from
before his dead/ and pleaded with the sons of Heth, saying,
' I am a stranger and a sojourner with you : give me a
possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my
dead out of my sight* 6 * And yet we must not carry to that
scene our own emotions, our own hopes, our own faith, as
Christians — for whom the great Apostle of the Gentiles has
made the patriarch's faith a very watchword, 'Abraham
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteous-
ness/ 63 In the days of Abraham, or rather in the far later
days of him who writes here the story of Abraham, the
strongest faith was hardly able to reach out the hand and
lay hold of a hope beyond the grave ; the dead were buried,
like Sarah in this Narrative, ' out of sight ' w for ever and ever;
and even long afterwards the good Hezekiah could say, ' The
grave cannot praise Thee ; death cannot celebrate Thee ;
they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy Truth/ 65

We Christians, however, taught by the lips of Him who
' has brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel/ M
believe that the same ' Faithful Creator/ 67 who ' is loving

w G.xxiii. I, comf. xvii.17. *• G.xvii.1,17. *• G.xii.IO-20.

m G.xx.1-18. -l G.xxiii. 1. n v.3-16. •» Rom.iv.3.

•* G.xxiii.4,8. •» Is.xxxviii.18. w 2Tim.i.io. •' iPet.iv.i9.

54 THE AGE OF THE JE HO VIST IN GENESIS.

unto every man/ whose 'tender mercies are over all His
works/ 68 is the Lord of both worlds, that the same Fatherly
and Motherly Care and Wisdom and Might will order for us
there as here. We know that the dear Son of God and all
the best and noblest of our race, who have followed in his
train in different paths of duty, have passed the mysterious
barrier, the gate which leads out of Time into Eternity ; and
we feel and are sure that all these are safe under the Shadow
of the Mighty Hand. But the same Love broods over all,
and we can leave our dear ones, and leave ourselves, in the
merciful care, to the wise disposal of Him who watches day
and night, guiding the ages as they go, ordering the move-
ments of this Mighty Universe, yet listening to the humblest
prayer of the poor penitent. In our hours of saddest bereave-
ment we may learn to bow to the will of Him who is the
Lord of death as well as life, 'Jehovah,' the Living God, the
Life-giver, ' the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever/ 69
But, while we live, our song shall be — like that which the
Jewish king poured forth from his overflowing heart when
raised from sickness nigh unto death — ' The living, the living,
he shall praise Thee, as I do this day ; the father to the
children shall make known Thy Truth.' 70

" Ps.cxlv.9. * Heb.xiii.8. n Is.xxxviii.19.

LECTURE V.

SUMMARY.

The Jehcrvist assigned by some to a later age than Solomon's, because of the
revolt of Edom in Joram's time ; this conclusion unnecessary, since the
Moabite Stone implies the revolt of Moab in Solomon's time ; despotic acts' of
Solomon on his accession ; revolts of subject provinces after the death of David
and Joab ; the statements of the vast extent and peaceful condition of Solo-
mon's empire at variance with other Scripture statements, and written during
the Captivity ; signs of internal disorder in Solomon's reign, as well as of
external troubles, which explain the prediction of Edom's revolt ; Jacob's
Blessing, Jehovistic ; that on Judah points to the time of David's glory,
before his great sin ; that on Joseph points to the same happy time, when the
Ten Tribes had acknowledged David as king ; that on Levi points to the
depressed condition of the priestly tribe in the same age, the golden period
of David's life, about the twelfth year of his reign ; the Rev. James Mar-
tin eau on Bible-reading in Sunday Schools.

THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER
CONSIDERED.

• And by thy sword shalt thou live,
And thou shalt serve thy brother ;
And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt have rule,
That thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.' x

JN my last lecture I quoted these words as showing
that the passage in which they occur must have
been written in the early part of Solomon's reign,
when the Edomite prince Hadad returned from
his long exile in Egypt, and raised a rebellion among his
people, and they broke from off their neck the yoke of Israel.
But I notice this passage again, because it has mainly in-
fluenced some eminent critics to assign a far later date to
this and other Jehovistic portions of the Book of Genesis than
the age of Solomon ; and indeed it is the only passage, as far as
I know, that has been plausibly alleged in support of that view.
We read, in fact, that more than a century after Solomon, in
the days of Joram, son of Jehosaphat, king of Judah, ' Edom
revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day' ; * and
hence it has been concluded that the prophecy before us must
have been written some time after this event But there
seems to be no necessity whatever for such a conclusion.

G.xxvii.40.

* 2K.viii.22.

58 AGE OF THE JEH0V1ST FURTHER CONSIDERED.

Every other indication of time, which has been detected as
yet in this part of the story in Genesis, points to the fifty years
which include the last years of Saul and the first of Solomon.
And, as to the passage we are now considering, the newly-
found Moabite Stone brings further unexpected confirmation
of the fact that the revolt of Hadad was successful, and Edom
was really liberated from the yoke of Israel in Solomon's
time.

For we learn from that remarkable monument that Moab,
which lay adjoining Edom, must in all probability in Solo-
mon's time have recovered its independence, though once,
like Edom, fearfully crushed under David's ferocious measures,
and brought under the yoke of Israel. 8 As one of the ablest
commentators on this Stone has written, 'This therefore
throws new light upon the Biblical history, inasmuch as it
shows that the Moabites must either have taken advantage
of the distracted state of Judaea [after the death of Solomon]
to free themselves of the Jewish vassalage, or that they
obtained their liberty under Solomon. We incline to the
latter opinion/ 4 In short, there can be little doubt that
Edom and Syria, Moab and Ammon, outlying districts which
David had subdued, all threw off the yoke of Israel as soon
as the conqueror was dead, when Joab, the valiant warrior,
whose name had been for thirty years a terror to the foes
of Israel, had been put to death by Solomon's orders in the
first years of his reign.* You will remember the pitiful story
— about the aged priest Abiathar, who had followed David's
fortunes for half a century, had fled to him when hiding from
fear of Saul in the wilderness, had carried the ark before him
afterwards as king, in his times of gladness and of grief,
* having been afflicted in all wherein he was afflicted,' 6 — and
Joab, the commander-in-chief, who had been David's right-

• 2S.viii.2. 4 Ginsburg [Moabite Stone, p.20.)

• iK.ii.29,34. • iK.i.7, ii.26.

AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED. 59

hand from the first, had helped to gain so many victories, and
had done so much to extend his empire, and who, though un-
doubtedly a man of craft and blood, was surely not worse in
this respect than David himself, since we know that by
David's orders he placed Uriah in the front of the battle, and
left him there unsupported to perish by the enemy'-s hand,
in order that the treacherous king might carry on undis-
turbed his guilty intercourse with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. 7
You will remember, I say, how these old friends and comrades
of David supported the claims of his eldest son Adonijah, and
how a cabal was formed, headed by Nathan the prophet and
Zadok the priest, in concert with the adulteress Bathsheba, to
secure the throne for her own son Solomon, a mere youth,*
and how they prevailed upon the aged king, then in his dotage,
to appoint Solomon as his successor. 9 So David died and
Solomon sat on the throne; and soon, very soon, after
Oriental fashion, on the first plausible pretext, Adonijah and
Joab were killed by Solomon's orders l0 and Abiathar deposed
from his priestly office. 11 'And the king put Benaiah, son of
Jehoiada ' — the executioner of his bloody commands — ' in the
room of Joab, and Zadok the priest did the king put in the
room of Abiathar.' ia

Under such a change of circumstances, what wonder is
it that Syria and Edom, Moab and Ammon, should have
thrown off the yoke of Israel, and that no effort should have
been made to suppress these rebellions ! It is true, we are
told, that ' Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the
River' — the great River Euphrates — 'unto the land of the
Philistines even unto the border of Egypt; they brought
presents and served Solomon all the days of his life.' 13 Again
we read that 'he had dominion over all across the River,
from Tiphsah (or Thapsacus on the Euphrates) to Azzah (or

f 2S.XL14-17. • iK.i.7,8. • iK.i.n-40. *• iK.ii. 12-25,28-34.

» lK.ii.26,27. » IK.H.35. " lK.iv.2I.

60 AGE OF THE JEH0V1ST FURTHER CONSIDERED.

Gaza on the shores of the Mediterranean), over all the
kings across the River; and he had peace on all sides
roundabout him' u But these notices are only the result of
the glorifying imagination of a much later age, exaggerating
the traditionary splendour of Solomon's reign; just as
our own poet has depicted in glowing terms the magnificence
of King Arthur's Court and the glory of his times. We see
at once that they are not historically true ; for they contradict
directly that other statement that Rezon, the rebel chief of
Syria, 'was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon,
besides the mischief that Hadad did,' Xb so that certainly
Solomon cannot have ' had peace on all sides roundabout
him.' Moreover, the present English Version, which says
that ' he had dominion over all on this side the River, over
all the kings on this side the River,' beguiles the reader
through a mistake of the translators. In the New Translation,
no doubt, we shall find the passage rendered correctly, ' over
all beyond or across the River, over all the kings on the other,
farther side of the River' ; and it will then be seen that these
words must have been written not in the land of Israel, but
by some one of the exiles carried captive to Babylon centuries
after the time of Solomon, or by one of their descendants,
living in the Babylonish territory east of the Euphrates, and
recording with natural pride his notion of the vast Empire,
which according to the fond traditions of his people was
ruled under the sceptre of Solomon, including ' all the kings on
the western side ' of the Euphrates. No doubt, Solomon did
receive at first such an Empire from his father's hands : but
it is plain that he did not retain his hold upon it. In the land
of Israel itself, from Dan to Beersheba, and even in the trans-
Jordanic lands occupied by Israelites, there was probably
peace and prosperity during his reign ; though there are signs

M 1K.iv.24. » 1K.xi.25.

AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED. 6t

of internal disturbances, 16 which immediately after his death
broke out in the rebellion of Jeroboam and the separation of
the Ten Tribes from the kingdom of Judah, — when they said
to his son Rehoboam, ' Thy father made our yoke heavy, but
make thou it lighter to us/ 17 and he answered, ' My father
chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with
scorpions/ 18 and they shouted, 4 What portion have we in
David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse ! To
your tents, O Israel ! ' — that is, everyone to his own home !
' Now see to thine own house, David ! ' 19 These heavy
tributes were doubtless levied in contributions or in labour,
partly for building purposes, for the Temple, his own palace,
and the other edifices with which he adorned or strengthened
Jerusalem, 20 but partly also, we must suppose, for supplying
the wants of his large harem and luxurious Court. 21 At all
events we read of no warlike exploit in the reign of Solomon
under his new commander-in-chief ; and Edom and Ammon,
as well as Syria and Moab, most probably regained their in-
dependence without difficulty, and ' broke the yoke of Israel
from off their neck.' A century afterwards, however, in the
time of Jehosaphat, king of Judah, the power of Judah seems
to have prevailed again over Edom, since we are told that
in his days 'there was no king in Edom, a deputy was king'; 22
as Moab also, according to the Moabite Stone, had been
subdued by Omri, king of Israel, the father of Ahab, who
reigned about fifty years after Solomon's time.

Let us now consider the very striking prediction of the
future fortunes of the Twelve Tribes, put into the mouth of
Jacob when near his death, 23 which also belongs to the Jeho-
vistic passages, as appears from the ejaculation in the midst

18 iK.xi.26-28,40. " iK.xii.10. " 1K.xii.14. '• iK.xii.16.

"• iK.v.11,13-18, vii. 1-12,13-51, ix, 15-19, xi.27.
81 1 K. iv. 7, 22, 23, 26, 28, x. 5, 14-26, xi. I -3. » 1 K. xxii. 47. M G. xlix. I -27.

62 AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED.

of it, ' I have waited for Thy Salvation, Jehovah ! ',* as well
as from the style and phraseology throughout. 85 Some words
are here addressed to each of the tribes, corresponding, no
doubt, to their actual circumstances at the time when this
passage was written. But we will confine our attention to
the language used with reference to Judah, Joseph, and
Levi.

Listen now, first, to the Blessing on Judah.

'Judah ! thou — thy brethren shall praise thee ;
Thy hand is on the neck of thy foes ;
Thy father's sons shall bow down to thee.
A lion's whelp is Judah,
Ravaging the young of the sucking-ewes ;
He stooped, he crouched, as a lion,
And as a lioness— who shall rouse him ?
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler's rod from between his feet,
Until he come to Shiloh,
And to him be the obedience of the peoples.' *•

Now in what age can such words as these have been written ?
Is it not plain that we have here the reign of David
depicted, the lion of the tribe of Judah, — that we have
here the lordship of Judah over the tribes, the triumphs of
David over his foes ? Yet his conquests are not completed ;
for ' the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's
rod from between his feet,' — in other words, the reign of
David shall endure, — 'until he shall come to Shiloh, and
to him be the obedience of the peoples ; ' where there
appears to be an allusion to the fact that, when the wars of
Israel on entering the Promised Land were ended, as
described in the Book of Joshua, and the whole land 'was
subdued before them/ Joshua and the people, according to
the story, 'came to Shiloh/ and set up the sacred Tent of
Meeting there. 37 So David, too, would 'come to Shiloh*

"G.xlix.i8. » Pent V. An.m.

u G.xlix.8-I0. « T J.xviii.i.

AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED. 63

in a "metaphorical sense, that is, he would ' come to rest/
for the word ' Shiloh ' means ' rest/ and bring up the sacred
ark to Mount Zion, into the Tent which he had prepared
for it 88 And, accordingly, the very first words, which
follow the account of the bringing up of the ark, inform
us that ' Jehovah had given David rest roundabout from all
his enemies* 9 the identical expression which is used to
describe the condition of the Israelites under Joshua, 80
when 'the land was subdued before them/ It is true that
war broke out again and again to disturb the peace of
David, 31 and his rest was mournfully disturbed in later times
by family troubles, the consequences for the most part of
his own folly and sin. 32 But the words before us clearly
point to the golden time of David's reign ; we hear a
trumpet-sound of war in them, as well as a full tone of
royalty. And they were probably written not long before
the time when the ark was brought up to Jerusalem in the
fourteenth year of his reign — when the opposition of the
Northern Tribes, who for seven years had held out against
him, was at an end, 33 and ' his father's sons had bowed '
to the rule of Judah — when David had already come to
rest after his first great victories, and had not yet commit-
ted that great sin which embittered the latter portion of
his life. 34 Think of his daughter Tamar dishonoured by
her half-brother Amnon 36 — Amnon murdered by her brother
Absalom 36 — David's long and mournful estrangement from
Absalom 37 — the rebellion of Absalom 38 — the treason of
Ahitophel, 39 explained by the fact that he was the grand-
father of Bathsheba, 40 — the wretched flight of David from
Jerusalem, 41 under the insulting curses of Shimei, 4 * —

" 2S.vi. 12-19. * 2S.vii.i. * J.xxi.44, xxii.4, xxiii.i.

»» 2S.x,xii.26-3l. n 2S.xiii, &c u 2S.V.I-5.

M 2S.xi,xii. »*2S.xiii.i-22. " 2S.xiii.23«36.

91 2S.xiii. 37-39, xiv. w 2S.xv.i-l I. " 2S.xv. 12,31, xvi. 20-23.

" 2S.XI.3, XXiii.34. 41 2S.XV. I3-3O. 4t 2S.XVi.5-i4.

64 AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED.

Absalom's outrage upon his father's wives 48 — his miserable
death, 44 and his father's broken heart 45 — the insurrection
of the Benjamite Sheba 46 — the overbearing arrogance of
Joab, 47 as one who had his master in his power, being
cognizant of his guilty secret, and the confidential agent
of his crime, 48 known or suspected probably by some, as
Nathan the prophet, 49 but not perhaps generally divulged
to the people ! No ! it is impossible that such grand words
about Judah can have been written after that melancholy
turning-point in David's history in the twentieth year of
his reign.

Let us take now the Blessing pronounced on JOSEPH.

* A fruitful branch is Joseph,
A fruitful branch by a spring ;
The sprout mounts over the wall . . .
Blessings of the heaven above,
Blessings of the deep couching beneath,
Blessings of the breast and of the womb ...
May they be upon the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the pre-eminent among his brethren.' *■

A passage like this with such warm laudations of JOSEPH,
that is, of the populous and powerful tribe of Ephraim, the
leader of the Northern Tribes, could hardly have been
written after the rupture between Judah and Ephraim in
the days of Rehoboam, 61 nor even in the latter part of
Solomon's reign when dissatisfaction already existed be-
tween them. 52 These words also suit best that golden
period in David's reign, when the Northern Tribes had
joined him after their seven years' opposition, 53 forming by
their redundant population the main body of his forces,
' Ephraim the strength of his head ' as ' Judah was his
lawgiver,' M and helping him greatly in achieving his recent

u 2S.xvi.22. " 2S.xviii.9-17. a 2S.xviii.33, xix.1-4. «• 2S.xx.1-22.

47 2S.xviii. 12-14, xix.5-7, xx.8-10. 48 2S.xi. 14-25. «• 2S.xii.i-14.

•• G.xlix.22-26. *' iK.xii. 19,20. " iK.xii.3,4.

M 2S.V.1-5. •* Ps.lx.7.

AGE OF THE JE HO VIST FURTHER CONSIDERED. 65

conquests. And indeed it would be very natural that an
effort should have been made to soothe in this way any
feelings of mortified pride which might and, as later events
showed," did actually exist in the tribe of Ephraim, at the
supremacy having been made over in $uch plain words to
Judah. But the tone of tenderness, which marks this
address to Joseph, seems almost to imply a special affection,
a personal interest, for the tribe in question, as if the
writer was himself an Ephraimite, though warmly attached
to the house of David.

And, lastly, these are some of the words spoken of Levi.

'Simeon and Levi are brethren ;
Instruments of wrong are their weapons.
Into their circle let not my soul enter !
Into their assembly let not mine honour be joined ! . .
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce !
And their wrath, for it was hard !
I will portion them out in Jacob,
And I will scatter them in Israel. ' *•

How little indication have we here of the glory and dignity
to which the Levites attained in a far later age ! They are
spoken of here in disparaging terms, as having no territory
of their own like the other tribes, as being ' portioned out
in Jacob ' and ' scattered in Israel.' To whomsoever this
utterance may be ascribed — whether to Jacob himself or
to Moses on the traditionary view, or to some writer of
David's age, as we conclude — it is clear that he had not the
least anticipation of the dignity and ample prerogatives
enjoyed by the Levites in later days, and specially secured
to them by numerous laws in the subsequent Books of the
Pentateuch. Here they are simply placed on a level with
the Simeonites, the feeblest tribe of all, which was soon
absorbed in Judah, to which most of its towns are reckoned, 67
and which is not even named as adhering with Judah to the

*• 2S.xix.4i-43- *• G.xlix.5-7. w comp. J. xix.2-7 with xv.26,28-32.

F

66 AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FVRTHER CONSIDERED.

house of David, 58 though its territory from its very position
must have formed part of the Southern Kingdom.

The whole history of the Levites must be left for con-
sideration on a future occasion. For the present it is
enough to say that the only mention of them in the Book
of Judges is in the last five chapters, where we read of one
homeless vagabond of this tribe ' sojourning where he could
find a place,' 69 that is, a place to act as priest — a chap-
laincy, as we should say— at any one of the various high-
places which in those days stood in all parts of the land,
and of another who 'sojourned in Mount Ephraim,' but
was 'going up to the House of Jehovah* at Shiloh, per-
haps with the purpose of sacrificing or else of earning his
livelihood by helping in priestly offices there. But there
is no sign of any large number of Levites assisting the
sons of Eli or Eli himself, when officiating as priests at
Shiloh. It is even predicted that Eli's descendants should
1 come and crouch ' to the chief priest of their time ' for a
piece of silver and a morsel of bread, saying, Put me, I
pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a
piece of bread.' From these examples it is natural to infer
that even in David's time, before the Temple was built, an
event which no doubt added somewhat to their dignity, little
account was made comparatively of the Levites. A few
probably officiated at Jerusalem, and others at the different
high-places throughout the land ; and for these, of course,
sufficient provision was made out of the sacrifices. But
the rest appear to have been dispersed about the country,
at least during the first years of David's reign, before the
ark was brought up to Mount Zion, getting their living as
best they could, as by acting as priests in private houses,
when they could not find employment at some one or other

M iK.xii.ao. •• Ju.xvii.8,9.

AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED. 67

of the idolatrous altars scattered throughout the land.
About the twelfth year of David they might well be spoken
of by the writer of this prediction, as 'portioned out in
Jacob and scattered in Israel/

You will now, I trust, have some clear idea of the origin
and composition of the Book of Genesis : and I hope to set
before you information of a similar kind with reference to the
other four Books of the Pentateuch. And, if we may judge
from the signs of the times, the day is not far distant when
all the more enlightened of the Clergy of different denomina-
tions will take at once the stand which in the end must
assuredly be taken, will welcome heartily the facts as they
are and bring them forth in their habitual teaching, so making
them by degrees familiarly known to the people. In this
way, without any dangerous shock to their faith, an ignorant
and superstitious reverence for the mere letter of the Bible
would give way to an intelligent reception of the life and
spirit of its Divine Teaching, and a true appreciation of the
real value of the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, as containing the
records of the dawn of religious light among that people, to
whom above all others have been committed of old the
' oracles of God,' the revelations of Eternal truth to the heart
of man. In short, let the Bible be explained from the pulpit
md taught in the Sunday School : but let the truth be told
about its contents, and old and young be no longer misled by
a blind enforcement of traditionary views. Those are admir-
able words which have lately been uttered on this point : — ' I
feel absolute confidence in three things. First, I shall never
believe in the religiousness of falsehood ; and therefore I
altogether deprecate the idea of the conscious maintenance of
any falsehood on the part of the teacher for the purpose of
maintaining a religious effect, or, as he may think, of saving a
religious effect, which otherwise might be injured or sacrificed.

f 2

68 AGE OF THE JEHOVIST FURTHER CONSIDERED.

The second principle is akin to the first, viz., that there can
be no danger ultimately in what is clearly and plainly true. I
do not say there may be no inconvenience, no particular
mischief and danger for the time ; but it is a danger which it
is our duty to encounter if we are sure that a thing is true.
The third principle is this : the basis of our Sunday School
teaching must continue to be the Scriptures of the Old and
New Testament. I am convinced that there can be nothing
but a more religious, influence derived from the Bible the
better and the more thoroughly it is understood, and that the
more progress is made in the clearing of it, the ascertainment
of what portion of the history is true and what portion is not
true, and when the books were written and when they were
not written, and what the relative authority is and the value
of this book or that — the more clearly and distinctly we can
see this, the better will the Bible be fitted for purposes of
religious instruction. The difficulties of the Bible arise all
from the assumption that it is all of equal religious authority,
and that every part of it can be taken and used for the
purposes of producing religious impression. The moment we
attempt this, we come across things which shock our moral
feeling and our historical sense of what is true. If we once
know the Bible critically, we know perfectly well that we can
discharge those things which obstruct our religious teaching,
and save the gems that remain for religious use, and that they
will have more value and a greater influence in that condition
than if they are mixed up with a mass of material that can
serve no direct religious or spiritual purpose. We are there-
fore greatly indebted to those who take up our ancient
Scriptures, and bring them directly face to face before the
religious conscience of the present day, showing how we may
clear away questionable elements, and preserve that which is
(6 build up the faith and action of the future/ *°

•* Martineau (Pall-Mali Gazette, June 14, 1872,/. 5).

LECTURE VI.

SUMMARY.

Recapitulation ; the Elohistic Narrative in Exodus ; its statement that
the name Jehovah was not known to the patriarchs, to whom God ap-
peared, once and again, by the name El Shaddai ; another view of this
passage shown to be erroneous ; names in the Elohistic Narrative formed
with Elohim, not Jehovah ; obscurity caused by the Jehovist representing
the name as known in primeval times ; the Elohistic Narrative ends with
the revelation of the Name in E.vi.2-5 ; this points to the Hebrews having

c ~- r first become acquainted with it about the time of the Exodus ; the mysterious
J,v V name of the Phoenician and Syrian Sun-God ; the Sun worshipped every -

- '"*£ where in Canaan as the Baal or Lord of the land ; this evidenced by names
' ~ of places ; IAO used to express in Greek the Hebrew Deity, and also the
Sun-God, as shown by an ancient oracle ; IACCHUS and "the cry at the
Bacchic festival; Phoenician names formed, like Hebrew, with Yahveh,
and Hebrewjjjjke Phoenician, with Baal ; these latter not allowed to appear
in the Bo$Sw Samuel ; the Hebrews adopted the worship of Yahveh the
Sun-God -ojsgSaan ; Yahveh first recognised as the God of Israel when the
national Hie 'began under Saul ; the Elohist, disliking this origin of the
Name, composed the story of its revelation to Moses; the Name HE IS,
expressing well the Living God ; progressive development of Divine Truth in
Israel.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH

[N my previous Lectures, starting from the phenomena
presented by the New Lectionary, I have pointed
out the existence of narratives by different writers
in the Book of Genesis, a fact which is plainly
betrayed by their differences of style and expression, as well
as by varying and sometimes contradictory statements. Of
these writers, the oldest, who uses only the name ' ELOHIM '
for the Divine Being, may very possibly, I said, have been the
prophet Samuel, composing here a sketch of primeval times
for the use of the students of his schools. But this older
narrative, the foundation of the whole story of the Exodus,
has been considerably enlarged by another writer, the
Jehovist, who uses also the name 'Jehovah/ as the personal
name of the Elohim of Israel. And both sets of passages are
distinguished not only by this peculiarity in the use of the
Divine Name, but each by its own distinct phraseology.
Indeed, as I observed, some insertions in the Book of Genesis,
and they are moreover the oldest, do not contain ' JEHOVAH '
at all, and yet exhibit plainly the style of the Jehovist through-
out, and therefore appear to be due to his hand. We are
brought, then, face to face with this singular fact, that the
writer of the oldest portions of Genesis has for some reason

72 THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH.

or other deliberately abstained from using the name 'Jehovah/
and the writer of the oldest of the supplementary insertions
follows the same rule. I purpose to consider in this Lecture
the probable explanation of this peculiarity.

But first let me illustrate further the fact in question by
reference to the Book of Exodus, which has not yet been
touched upon in these Lectures. We find here the same
phenomena precisely as in Genesis ; that is to say, we find
here also passages in which only ELOHIM is used, and which
agree exactly in style with the Elohistic passages in Genesis,
and, like those, when extracted from the rest of the Book,
form a complete connected narrative ; and these are separated,
as the story now stands, by a number of other passages
written in a totally different style, the style in fact of the
Jehovist in Genesis, which expand and enliven the more brief
and sombre details of the older story.

I will now read to you that portion of the ancient Elohistic
Narrative, which we are able to extract from the first six
chapters of the Book of Exodus.

And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came
to Egypt with Jacob, each and his house they came — Beuben,
Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan
and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. And all the souls that went
forth ont of Jacob's loins were seventy souls ; and Joseph was
in Egypt

And Joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation.
And the children of Israel fructified and teemed and multiplied,
and were exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them.
And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with
rigour. And the children of Israel sighed because of the service,
and they cried, and their wail went up to ELOHIM because
of the service. And ELOHIM heard their sighing, and ELOHIM
remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
Jacob. And ELOHIM saw the children of Israel and ELOHIM
knew.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH 73

And ELOHIM spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am
JEHOVAH. And I appeared onto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob, as EL SHADDAI (GOD ALMIGHTY) ; but by My
name JEHOVAH (I was not known, or) I did not make myself
known to them. And I have also established My covenant with
them, to give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their
sojournings in which they sojourned. And I have also heard
the sighing of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians
make-to-serve, and I have remembered My covenant. 1

You will have noticed the frequent repetition of the name
Elohim in these few verses ; and you will have observed also
the fact that the writer here states that the name Jehovah
was not even known to the patriarchs. ' I appeared unto
Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as El Shaddai ; ' !
and so the Deity appears to Abraham and to Jacob, and in
each case says ' I am El Shaddai.' a But the account of a
like revelation to Isaac must either have been cancelled, which
is not probable, or the promises made by El Shaddai to
Abraham — ' to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee, 1
' to .give to thee and to thy seed after thee all the land of
Canaan/ ' Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and
thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish My
covenant with him and his seed after him' 8 — may have been
regarded as virtually including an 'appearance* to Isaac.
And this last explanation seems to be confirmed by the words
ascribed to El Shaddai in the account of the revelation to
Jacob, which seems to refer to these promises to Abraham,
' and the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land/ 4
as also by the statement with which this latter account is in-
troduced, 'and Elohim appeared to Jacob again when he
came out of Padan-Aram and blessed him' 5 — not 'appeared

1 E.i.1-7,13, ii.23b-25, vi.2-5. * G.xvii.i, xxxv.n.

9 G.xvii.7,8,19. * G.xxxv.12. * G.xxxv.9.

74 THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH

again to Jacob? as if this was the second appearance of El
Shaddai to Jacob, in which case he would have been more
highly distinguished than even Abraham himself, and no
former appearance to Jacob has been recorded by this ancient
writer, but 'appeared again — a second time — to one of the
patriarchs, and in this case to Jacob/ a sign of superabundant
Divine Favour towards them, since the first appearance to
Abraham included them all. ' But by My name Jehovah I
did not make-myself-known to them/ These words might
indeed be explained, as they are by some commentators, to
mean only this, ' I did not make myself thoroughly known to
them — I did not reveal to them the full meaning of my name
JEHOVAH, though they knew and used that name familiarly/
Thus the writer in the New Bible Commentary paraphrases
the passage as follows, * I manifested Myself to the patriarchs
in the character of El Shaddai, the Omnipotent God, able
to fulfil that which I had promised ; but as to My name (i.e.,
My character and attributes) of Jehovah, I was not made
manifest to them.' 6 It is hard to reconcile such an explana-
tion with the fact that Jehovah Himself is represented as
saying to Abraham, ' I am Jehovah, &c./ 7 and that Abraham
is said to have ' believed in Jehovah ; ' 8 though even this
might be allowed, if there were no other reason for doubting
the correctness of this view. But when we know that the
Elohistic Narrative can be taken out by itself from the Book
of ^Genesis — that the writer of it has deliberately suppressed
the name Jehovah throughout his account of the times before
the Exodus — that he never puts it into the mouth of any one
of the patriarchs before or after the Flood — that he gives us
numerous names in Genesis compounded with ELOHIM or El,
such as Isra*/, Ishma*7, 9 and not one compounded with

• Bp. Browne (B.C., \.p. 26). f G.xv.7. • G.xv.6.

• Mahalale*/. G.v.12; Adbo/, G.xxv.13 ; Ji/iphaz, Rem/, Mehetabrf, Mag'
dfe/, G.xxxvi.4,39,43 ; JemiL?/, Jahlei/, Malchif/, Jahzei/, G.xlvi.10,14,17,24;
besides Isra;/ and Ishnw/.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 75

JEHOVAH or Jah, like those which occur elsewhere so fre-
quently in the Bible — when, I say, we take note of these facts,
it is clear that the writer intended to represent the name
Jehovah as not even known before the Exodus, as first re-
vealed to man when 'ELOHIM spake unto Moses and said
unto him, I am Jehovah ; and I appeared unto Abraham,
and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as El Shaddai ; but by
My name Jehovah I did not make-myself-known unto
them/

For some reason, then, this ancient writer regards this
sacred name as not having been used at all by the patriarchs
or their descendants before the time of the Exodus. It is
true that no one would perceive this fact in the Bible from
merely reading the Book of Genesis as it now lies before us.
However surprised he might be at perceiving the difference
between the first account of the Creation, which uses only
ELOHIM, and the second, which uses only JEHOVAH ELOHIM,
he would never suppose that the former peculiarity can be
traced distinctly throughout the whole Book of Genesis, in the
parts belonging to that ancient writer to whom we owe the
first account of the Creation — more especially when he saw
that in the greater part of Genesis no such peculiarity exists,
that the name Jehovah is freely used by patriarchs before
and after the Flood, 10 nay, even by heathen persons, 11 and we
are told that, as early as the days of Adam's son Seth or his
grandson Enos, ' then began men to call upon the name of
Jehovah.' 12 This later writer, it is plain, has abandoned
altogether the idea of the Elohist, and supposes the sacred
name to have been known from a very early time in the his-
tory of the human race. Accordingly he puts it everywhere
into the mouths of persons introduced as speaking, and repre-

,# G.iv.l, v.29, ix.26, xiv.22, xv.2,8, xvi.5, &c. ,J G.xxvi. 28,29.

M G.iv.26.

76 THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH.

sents the Deity as appearing to Jacob arid saying, 'I am
JEHOVAH, the Elohim of Abraham thy father and the Elohim
of Isaac* l3 By these insertions the older story is completely
overlaid, and its Elohistic character hid from the sight of most
readers. It is only when it is extracted separately from the
Book of Genesis that we find it forming a continuous narrative
in which the name Jehovah is carefully suppressed.

What, now, can be the reason of this ? And here I must
observe that the Elohistic Narrative in the Pentateuch ends
with the words which I have just read as the portion of it con-
tained in the first six chapters of the Book of Exodus. We
find no trace of it after this passage. It would seem as if the
older writer — Samuel, as we suppose— having undertaken to
sketch the history of the primeval times, had completed his
work so far as to record the revelation of the name Jehovah
to Moses, and then had stopped — his labours having been
perhaps finished according to his original intention, when he
had brought the narrative up to this critical point in the his-
tory of Israel, or perhaps cut short by sickness or death, and
the story of the Exodus having been afterwards carried on
and completed by his disciples. What, I repeat, is the his-
torical fact implied by this circumstance, that the oldest writer
of the Pentateuch represents the name Jehovah as first com-
: municated to Moses, and through him to Israel, at tlie tune of
the Exodus ? Since this statement, as we have seen, is directly
at variance with the other parts of Genesis, which assume this
name to have been known from the first, we are relieved from
any necessity of regarding either view as historically true.
Nevertheless, the statement of the Elohist must mean some-
thing ; it must point to some fact which that writer had before
his mind's eye, and for which he has tried to account by say-
ing that the name was first made known to the Israelites at

19 G.xxviii.13.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 77

the time of the Exodus. And what can that fact have been
but this, that it really then first became known to them — then,
at or about the time of the Exodus — not, indeed, in Egypt,
as here supposed, before they started on their march to
Canaan, nor by means of a miraculous revelation to Moses
and an audible voice — but by contact with the tribes of
Canaan, as soon as they had crossed the Jordan and settled
down as inhabitants in that land.

Accordingly, modern researches w have shown that among
the Canaanite tribes, especially among the Phoenicians and
Syrians in the northern districts, the Sun-God was worshipped
under a mysterious name almost identical with the name
JEHOVAH, or, as it should be pronounced more properly,
Yahveh or Yahweh. The Syrian word is Yakhveh, the
Hebrew Yahveh, differing only in fact by a stronger, more
guttural, aspirate being heard in the former name, as the Zulu
aspirate is heard more strongly north of the Tugela than
south of it. All over the land of Canaan the worship of the
Sun-God prevailed ; as indeed it is most natural that in the
first dawning of religious life the Sun should have been re-
garded as the most glorious symbol of the unseen Deity —
should at one time have been hailed as the life-giver, the
source of health and strength, the bountiful dispenser of food
and plenty, to be worshipped with joyous festivals, at another
have been dreaded as the life destroyer, the cause of famine,
disease, and death, to be entreated with earnest supplications
and appeased with gloomy rites. He was, in fact, regarded
as the Baal or Lord, in the sense of Owner or Husband of
the land ; and accordingly we find a multitude of places men-
tioned in the Bible in all parts of the country, where the Sun-
God was worshipped under some special appellation, as Baal-
Hazor, 15 Baal-Hermon, 16 &c, ' our Lord ' of this place or that,

M Movers {Phomzier, X I V./. 539-558, translated in Pent. W.App.m.).
M 2S.xiii.23. I- Ju.iii.3

78 THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH.

just as in Roman Catholic countries shrines are set up in
different localities to ' our Lady ' of this place or that. Be-
sides which, the prevalence of Sun-worship among the ancient
inhabitants of the land of Canaan is abundantly indicated by
such names as these, Beth-Shemesh, 17 ' House of the Sun/
like Beth-El, * House of Elohim/ En-Shemesh, 18 ' Fountain
of the Sun/ Ir-Shemesh, w ' City of the Sun/ &c.

The mysterious name of the Syrian Sun-God, moreover,
is expressed by heathen writers by the very same word IAO,
by which Christian Fathers and others express the Hebrew
name of the Deity. Thus Clement of Alexandria says of
the God of the Jews, ' He is called IAOU, which is inter-
preted to mean Who is and Who shall be ' ; *° and
DlODORUS tells us, 'It, is said that among the Arimaspians
Zathraustes professed that the Good Spirit had given him
his laws, and that among the Jews Moses made a similar
claim with regard to the Deity named IAO.' 21 On the other
hand an ancient oracle says — ' It was right that those initiated
should conceal the soul-soothing mysteries. But in deceit
there is little sense and a slender understanding. Take
notice that IAO is the highest of all the gods ; in winter
Hades, Zeus in commencing spring, Helios in summer,
and in the autumn IAO/ ** Thus, as one explains this
oracle, ' I AO is the highest of all the gods, because he gives
life to all, and his dwelling is heaven which spreads over all.
Yet in heaven he reveals Himself specially by the Sun. In
winter, when the nights are longest, the god prefers to dwell
in the under-world, and rules over the shades as Hades.
In the spring-time, when the grain-harvest is at hand, all
depends upon the weather, upon sufficient rain and sunshine ;
and the god is addressed as Zeus, as especially the god of

"J.xv.io. >■ J.xv.7. »J.xix.4i.

»• Stromy.p.$62, ed. Par.i&6g. »■ I./. 105, cd. Wesseling.

« Macrobius (Sot.I.1%).

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH. 79

heaven and of the weather. In the summer he is the scorch-
ing Sun, which burns up everything, and is tempered by no
cloud. Lastly, in the autumn comes the ripeness of the fig,
olive, pomegranate, above all of the grape with its mysterious
life-awakening juice ; and now is the god known as the tender
IAO, the spring of all beauty, love, and life.' n

This joyous, autumn form of the Sun-God was the Deity
known among the Greeks under the name of Dionysus or
Iacchus, which last name* clearly points to the Phoenician
YAKHVEH, as do also other expressions and ejaculations
used in Sun-worship, 2I e.g. the repeated cry of IA or YA at
the triennial feast of Iacchus or Bacchus, which reminds
us of the triennial feast upon the tithes among the Hebrews, 15
and of the festival cry, ' Hallelu-YAH ! ' * The Sun-God
was also called ' Adonis/ i.e. ' Lord,' in the sense of Master,
as also 'the Most High God': and the Deity is repeatedly
called by both these names in the Hebrew Bible. 17 And as
Hebrew names were compounded with JAH br lAH, M we
find also Phoenician names similarly formed. Thus in Virgil,
the Phoenician courtier, who 'quickly drained the foaming
bowl and laved himself in the brimming gold/ 29 is called
Bithias, which is merely the Hebrew BithwA, 30 the same in
meaning as Bethu*/, 31 compounded with El\ and so Josephus 82
mentions a Tyrian Abdaeus, which is only the Greek form of
the Hebrew Obad/tfA. Again, Phoenician names were in
like manner compounded with Baal, as Hanni&z/, which
corresponds exactly to the Hebrew Hannk/, or Hanan*7, or
2?/hanan, M Hannia/i or .T^hanan, 84 i.e., John, with the Divine

w Land {Theol. Tijdschr., March, 1868, /. 161).
81 Movers (as above, Pent.V.App.\\\. 23-31).

* D. xv. 28, 29, xxvi.12, Am.iv.4. «• See Ps.lxviii.4.

v For 'Lord' see G.xv.2,8, E.iv.10,13, xv.17, xxxiv.9, &c; for 'Most High
God' see G.xiv. 18, 19,20,22, N.xxiv.16, D.xxxii.8, &c.

** e.g. HezekiaA, AdomjaA, where jah is properly iah or yah.
n A£n.I.7&. •• 1Ch.iv.18. " G.xxii.22. ** c.Ap\.\%.

• N.xxxiv.23, Neh.iii.i, 2S.xxi.19. »« 1Ch.iii.19, 2K.xxv.23.

8o THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH

Name prefixed in the form Jeho or Jo f — as Asdru&z/ does to
Aznel or Azare/, 36 Z?/iezer or Zs/eazar, 86 AzariaA or ^ezer. 37
On the other hand one of David's officers was called Baal-
hanan, 88 which is only Hannibal inverted ;* while the name
of Saul's son was Esh&ra/and of Saul's grandson Merribdaa/* 9
and even of David's son Baa/yadah, 40 and one of David's
warriors is called Baaljah 41 meaning ' Jah is Baal.' The first
three of these names, indeed — all of which may be seen in
the Books of Chronicles— have been modified in the Books
of Samuel, and appear there as \$iboslieth, Mephi&tf//^/A,
is/yadah. 42 And the reason of these changes is plain.
Among pious Jews after the Captivity the more ancient
and venerable Books of Samuel were more highly honoured
and more commonly read than the very late Books of
Chronicles. It is probable, therefore, that the Jewish Scribes,
desiring^ to obliterate as much as possible, or at least to
obscure, the traces of so close a connexion between the
religion of Israel in the time of David and Solomon and the
idolatrous worship of Canaan, suppressed the offensive ' Baal '
in these names in those histories which were most studied by
their countrymen.

But why should there be any doubt that the Hebrews
adopted the Canaanitish Sun-worship ? We are told re-
peatedly that, when settled in Canaan, they ' followed other
Elohim of the Elohim of the people that were round about
them. 43 It is certain, therefore, that they must have adopted
the worship of the Sun-God, and taken part in the lascivious
or bloody rites accompanying that worship. In fact, if they
wished to be regarded as possessors of the soil, it was
necessary, according to the notions of those days, that they

■» iCh.xxvii. 19,22. •• Ezr.x.23,25. n 1Ch.ix.11, xii.6.

»■ 1Ch.xxvii.28. n iCh.ix.39,40. * 9 iCh.xiv.7.

41 iCh.xii.5. n 2S.ii.8, iv.4, v. 16, camp. iCh.iii.8.

«* Ju.ii. 12, 17, 19, iii.6,7, vi.io, and see especially vi.25 32.

THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH 81

should do homage to Yahveh, the 'God of the land.' <4
And what at first was done through mere imitation of the
practices of the surrounding tribes, was at last established
as the law of the whole community, in the time of Samuel,
under the first king Saul. Then Israel was first formed into
a nation, and then, too, Yahveh was first formally ac-
knowledged as the National Deity of Israel ; and his might
and pre-eminence over the gods of the neighbouring nations
were fully exhibited in the view of the people, when David's
armies marched triumphantly under his auspices. ' Lift up
your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of Glory shall come in ! Who is this King of
Glory? It is Yahveh strong and mighty! it is Yahveh
mighty in battle.' 45

Such, then, is the explanation, which seems to be most
probable, of the singular peculiarity which characterises the
Elohistic Narrative in the use of the Divine Name. The
writer, it would seem, was unwilling that the Name of
Israel's Deity should be traced to the worship of the tribes
of Canaan. But he knew that the name was unknown to
the Israelites before they entered Canaan ; and he wrote
this account of the revelation of it to Moses about the
time of the Exodus in order to explain this fact. But
what matters it whence they obtained the name, which
must have been invented somewhere, by some one, at some
time or other ? It is enough that the great prophets of
Israel, taught by the Divine Spirit, saw that it was a name
well suited to express the idea of the One only True and
Living God, in opposition to the dumb idols of the heathen,
to the blocks and stones which some even among the
Israelites ignorantly worshipped, 46 or the figure of an ox
under which the Sun-God was long adored by Canaanites

44 2K.xvii.26 28,33,41, comp. 1S.xxvi.i9. 4 * Ps.xxiv.7,8.

* Jer.ii.27.

G

82 THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME JEHOVAH.

and Israelites alike. 47 The name Yahveh means « HE Is/
being derived from the Hebrew verb which means 'to be ' ;
and so we read ' And Elhoim said unto Moses, I Am That
I Am ; and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.' 48 And the prophets
seem to have eagerly seized on this idea that the God of
Israel was Yahveh, He Is, the Living God, the Being by
whom all things else had life and being. From age to age
these prophets strove to raise their people to higher views of
the Divine Being, of His nature and character, and His
relations to man. And gradually their own minds were
enlightened, their own views became more bright and clear ;
and they had even glimpses of the glorious truth that the
Living God was not the God of Israel only, but the Father
of spirits, the Faithful Creator, 49 the ' confidence of all the
ends of the earth.' *°

Let us thankfully trace the progressive development of
Divine Truth among Israel of old, even down to him who
has revealed to us fully our Father's Love and our Father's
Holiness, and has given us a name 'better than that of our
sons and daughters.' 6l Let us devoutly receive the reve-
lations made to us in the past by the hands of our brethren
of Jewish or other races, whom He has chosen to be His
special ministers to us-ward for this great work, but be ready
also to welcome joyfully the revelations of the present day,
each ' good and perfect gift coming down from above from
the Father of lights.' 6a

«' E.xxxii.l-6, iK.xii.28,29. «• E.iii.14.

*• Ps.xxii.27, lxxxvi.9, xcviii.3, Is.xlii.6, xlv.22,23, xlix.6, lx.3.
* Ps.lxv.5. *» Is.lvi.5. w Jam. i. 1 7.

LFXTURE VII.

e»

SUMMARY.

Recapitulation ; in some passages of Exodus, not due to the Elohist, only
Elohim is used, in some Jehovah appears, but sparingly, in others more
freely ; this explained by the age in which such passages were composed, as
the name Jehovah became more familiarly employed in the reigns of David
and Solomon ; Ps.lxviii. belongs apparently to the age of David ; its charac-
ter, and the occasion for which it was probably composed ; the writer knew
the name Jehovah, but uses it rarely compared with Elohim, as if not
familiar with it; identity between v.i of this Psalm and N.x.35 ; proof that
the Psalm was written first, and the words in Numbers copied from it,
probably by an author of the same age ; the ' Song of Deborah ' composed
in the prophetical schools ; identity between r.7,8, of the Psalm, and v. 4, 5,
of the Song ; proof that the Psalm again was written first, and the words
of the Song copied from it ; Balaam's Prophecies incredible as history, possibly
by the same author as Jacob's Blessing, written after David's conquests of
Moab and Edom, before that of Amnion, and not long after Saul's overthrow
of Agag and Amalek ; relative extent of the original story, the Deuterono-
mistic matter, and the Levi deal Legislation ; the history of Israel now
becomes intelligible and instructive, as a history of human development.

THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN NUMBERS.

\N my last Lecture I read to you the final words of
the Elohistic Narrative extracted from the Book
of Exodus, the writer having apparently, perhaps
by design or perhaps through some accident,
brought his work to a close with the account of the revelation
of the name of Jehovah or Yahveh to Moses. And I
showed that this name was probably adopted by the idolatrous
Israelites from the name by which the Sun-God was known
and worshipped among the tribes of Canaan ; though it was
gradually invested with a higher and holier meaning, as the
name of the True and Living God, through the teaching of
the great prophets of Israel inspired with Divine Wisdom and
Truth. The Narrative, thus commenced, as we suppose, by
Samuel, was carried on by his disciples, the framework of the
story, as he left it, having been filled in by the labours of one
or more of them, during the fifty years which followed after
his death. These supplementary passages, however, though
agreeing in style with each other, and differing entirely in this
respect from the Elohistic Narrative, exhibit, as we saw, a
noticeable variety in the use of the Divine Name. In some
of them only Elohim is used, as in the oldest matter, or
JEHOVAH is used very sparingly ; and, if these occurred only

B6 THE AGE OF THE J EH OVIST IN NUMBERS.

in Genesis, we might suppose that the writer was merely
following the lead, so to speak, of his Master, and suppressing
deliberately the use of JEHOVAH until the account of its
revelation had been recorded in E. vi. But it is of great
importance to observe that such passages are found in Exodus
also, long after that account has been given. 1 The fact of
their existence, therefore, requires some further explanation.
The writer may have been influenced, when making his
insertions in Genesis, by the example of his predecessor ; but
still some reason peculiar to himself must have operated to
account for his abstaining in so marked and unmistakable a
manner from using freely the name JEHOVAH, when this name
had been represented as fully revealed to Moses and Israel.
It would seem as if he was not himself familiar at first with
the name, and used more naturally the older name Elohim ;
as, of course, would be the case if, at the time when he wrote
these passages, Jehovah or Yahveh had been only recently
adopted, as the name of the National Deity of Israel, during
the age of Saul and Samuel. Accordingly in the rest of this
series Jehovah is employed much more frequently, 8 and
indeed so freely, that, when these were written, the name
must certainly have been quite familiar both to the writer and
the people. Such passages as these last may have been
composed in the middle or latter part of David's reign or
during the early years of Solomon's, or even, as some suppose,
in a still later age.

And now let us consider for a moment what light is thrown
upon this question by the Book of Psalms. These are
popularly called, as we know, the Psalms of David ; and yet
it is certain that very many of them were composed long
after the Captivity, 3 and that very few can have been written
by the hand or in the age of David. There is one Psalm,

1 E.i. 17-22, Hi, xiii. 17-19, xviii, xix. 16-19, xx.18-21, xxiv.9-13.
* E.iv,v,&c • e.g. Ps.lxxix, lxxx.

THE AGE OF THE JE HO VIST IN NUMBERS. 87

however, Ps. lxviii, which undoubtedly appears to belong to
that age. This Psalm is spoken of by different eminent
critics as ' one of the most able and powerful/ 4 as ' the most
spirited, lively, and powerful/ 5 as ' the grandest, most splendid,
most artistic/ 6 in the whole collection, as ' one among the
oldest relics of Hebrew poetry, of the highest originality/ 7
and its writer as one ' in whom we cannot but recognise a
poet of remarkable genius ' ; 4 and one of them says, ' The
occasion, which most immediately presents itself for this Psalm,
is the removal of the ark by David to Mount Zion, and this
is adopted by most of the ancient and later interpreters. It
gives incontestably the best sense/ 8 This very writer,
however, with other able critics of the present day, himself
assigns this Psalm to a far later date for certain reasons. But
their arguments do not appear convincing ; 9 and, for myself,

4 OLSHAUSEN, /V./.288. * HUPFELD, Ps. III./. 1 99.

• Ewald, Ps.p.297. 1 De Wette, quoted by Hupfeld, Ps. III./. 201.

• Hupfeld, Ps.l 1 1./. 196.

• The arguments alleged against the Davidic origin of Ps. lxviii are as follows
(Kuenen, Hist. Krit. Ond. 1 11./. 258) :- (i) In #.15-18 'the settlement of
Jehovah on Zion is surely not described by a contemporary' — (ii) In v. 22
' mention is made of bringing back the captives who had been carried away E.
and W. (Bashan and the Mediterranean Sea)' — (iii) In v. 29 'Jehovah's
Palace (Heb.), i.e. the Temple, is mentioned* — (iv) In v.29,31,32, &c, 'the
expectation of all mankind coming to worship on Zion could hardly have been
entertained in David's time.'

Ans. — (i) v. 15-18 suits thoroughly the time of David, when Jehovah, after a
series of conquests, came to 'dwell on the hill which Elohim desired to dwell
in, yea, and would dwell- on it for ever,' v. 16 ; (ii) v. 22 speaks only of ' bringing
back ' into the power of Israel for vengeance their fugitive enemies from all direc-
tions, E. and W., comp. Am.ix.1-3, ' that their foot may be dipped in the blood
of their enemies and the tongue of their dogs in the same,' v. 23, comp. r.21,
and see 2S.viii.i,2, xi.31 ; (iii) David's Tabernacle on Mount Zion was, doubtless,
not a mere common tent, but an erection of some architectural pretensions, to
which the Hebrew word might be well applied, as it is to the Sanctuary at Shil<>h
in iS.i.9, iii.3 ; (iv) ^.29,31,32, &c, refer rather to the princes of neighbouring
countries, (e.g. Egypt and Ethiopia, tf.31, with which David was probably in
amicable alliance, comp. iK.iii. 1, as well as with Tyre, iK.v. I), showing respect
and reverence for the triumphant God of Israel, by sending presents, f.29, for use
in the Tabernacle or in building the contemplated Temple, comp. 2S.viii. 10,11,
— not to their adopting Jehovah as their own National Deity.

88 THE AGE OF THE J E HO VIST IN NUMBERS.

I am satisfied that, if any Psalm in the whole book belongs
to the age of David, it is this noble Ps. lxviii. ; and I believe
that it was written — perhaps, but not necessarily, by David
himself — for the occasion just mentioned, when he brought up
with great pomp and solemnity the sacred ark to Mount
Zion.

Now observe the peculiar use of the Divine Name in this
Ps. lxviii. Four times JEHOVAH or Jah is used, 10 and in
v. 4 especially great stress is laid on this particular name.

' Sing unto Elohim, sing praises to His Name ;
His name is Jah, so rejoice before Him.'

The writer then knew the name Jehovah ; and he has not
suppressed it from superstitious motives, such as those which

On the other hand, besides the points mentioned above in the text, it seems
to be decisive against the post -Captivity date ascribed to this Psalm by Hupfeld,
Ewald, Kuenen, Land, &c, (i) that it has the phrases 'Sing unto Elohim/
v. 4,32, 'Bks* ye Elohim,' «/.26, 'Praise ye Adonai,' v. 32, 'Blessed be
Adonai,' p. 18, 'Blessed be Elohim, t/.35, instead of 'Hallelu-jAH,' 'Praise
ye Jehovah,* which would certainly have been found in a very late Psalm of this
character, especially at the end, as in Ps.civ.-cvi, cxiii, cxv, cxvi, cxxxv, cxlvi-cl,
whereas four of these expressions occur nowhere else in the Bible, and the last
only besides in Ps.lxvi.20, and (ii) that it nowhere mentions the Priests and the
Levites, who would almost certainly have been named, especially the latter, in
a post-Captivity Psalm, as present on such an occasion, comp. 2CI1.V. 12, in-
stead of whom we read ' before went the singers, behind were the players, in the
midst of the damsels timbrelling,' r.25.

The mention of 'little Benjamin their ruler,' in v.27 is hardly intelligible after
the Captivity, but suits well the time when Benjamin, which as Saul's tribe, had
only just ceased to be, under Saul and his son Ishbosheth, the royal tribe in
Israel, had now submitted itself to David, but is spoken of here, in a politic
manner, as being of princely dignity. And the mention of four tribes only in
7.27, 'Benjamin and Judah,' ' Zebulon and Naphtali,' as representatives of all
Israel, is also explained by the fact that in David's time the latter two were the
chief Northern, as the former two were the chief Southern, tribes, who came
up heartily — represented by their chiefs— to take part in the ceremony of installing
the ark ; whereas the great tribe of Ephraim, which lay between, was in all prob-
ability not at all enthusiastic in support of this new project of David, of making
Jerusalem the seat of religious influence, as well as of government, for the whole
land, to the depreciation of its own famous Sanctuary at Bethel, and expressed at
last its long-smothered dissatisfaction at this centralizing system in Jeroboam's
words, ' Ye have had enough of going up to Jerusalem,' 1K.xii.28. See further
in Pent. TI. 405-42 1.

10 Jah, r.4,18, Jehovah, v. 16,20.

THE AGE OF THE JE HO VIST IN NUMBERS. 89

are known to have prevailed in a very late age with regard to
the utterance of this sacred name. Yet he mentions it only
four times, while thirty-one times he uses Elohim and seven
times also Adonai, ' Lord,' corresponding to the title of the Sun*
God, Adonis. It would seem that Jehovah, though already
adopted as the name of the National Deity of Israel, was not
yet familiar in the mouth either of the writer or of the people
at the time when this Psalm was composed, that is, at the
time when the ark was brought up to Mount Zion, in the
fourteenth year of David's reign, about eighteen years after
the death of Samuel.

And now listen to the words with which the Psalm
begins : —

' Let Elohim arise, let His enemies be scattered,
And let them, that hate Him, flee before Him ! '

And compare them with those which are represented in the
Pentateuch as uttered by Moses at each movement of the ark
in the wilderness : —

1 Arise, Jehovah, and let Thine enemies be scattered,
And let them, that hate Thee, flee before Thee ! ' »

It is plain that one of these two passages must have been
copied from the other — that the writer of one of them must
have had the other before him or in his memory when he
wrote his own words. Which, then, was the older of these
two passages ? We observe that in the Psalm Elohim is
used where in the other passage stands Jehovah. Now it is
incredible that the Psalmist, if he had before him the story of
the Exodus, of venerable antiquity, at all events, and having
at least Mosaic, if not Divine, authority, would have presumed
to substitute the common name ELOHIM, which might stand
for any heathen deity, in place of the sacred name Jehovah,
the personal name of the God of Israel, which had been
actually used by Moses himself in the formula here supposed

" N.x.35. .

po JTHE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST iN NUMBERS.

to be copied, and used repeatedly, whenever the Camp was
moved in the wilderness — more especially as it would have
been the very name required in this Psalm, composed for so
grand an occasion. Whereas it would be very natural that
such words as these, if really first used at this memorable
time, when the ark was removed ' with shouting and trumpet-
sounds ' by ' David and all the House of Israel ' from the
place where it had been long laid aside, and brought up to
' the Tent that David had pitched for it,' la should have been
afterwards adopted by a writer of that age with the change of.
Elohim into Jehovah, and inserted in the story of the
Exodus as fitting words to announce each removal of the ark
in the wilderness. But it is plain that they can never have
been so used in reality— that they have been introduced into
the Pentateuch by a mere poetical fiction : and, in point of
fact, as the story now stands, they would not have been fitting
words to have been employed on such occasions, since there
was no fighting during those marches in the wilderness, no
' enemies ' of Jehovah and Israel to be ' scattered ' before the
ark during those forty years of dreary wandering. But in
this Psalm they stand quite in their place, being closely
connected also with the words that follow ; their martial tone
suits well with David's time when he had had wars on every
side, and when, perhaps, the ark itself, .as the symbol of the
Divine Presence, was at times carried forth at the head of his
armies, 13 —

' Let Elohim arise, let His enemies be scattered,
And let all, that hate Him, flee before Him !
As smoke is driven away, so drive Thou them away ;
As wax melteth before the fire,
So perish the wicked before Elohim.
But let the righteous be glad and exult before Elohim ;
Yea« let them rejoice with gladness.' u

And now let us consider a very similar phenomenon presen-
ted in the Song of Deborah. 15 This noble poem is evidently

" 2S.vi. 15-19. w 2S.xi.ll. H Ps.lxviii.1-3. >• Ju.v.

THE AGE OF THE J E HO VIST IN NUMBERS. 91

one of the 'Lays of Ancient Israel/ that is to say, it is an
artistic composition, written by one who has thrown himself
heartily into the spirit of the times portrayed in it, but who
lived long after the events to which it refers — as, in fact, is
plainly indicated by the statement that ' on that day Deborah
and Barak the son of Abinoam sang this Song ' together, 1 *
whether this be understood of the joint utterance or the joint
authorship of it. If, indeed, such a splendid composition had
really been produced in so rude and primitive an age, and
had been handed down eitfier in writing or in memory from
that time, it would be reasonable to expect that we should
find some remains of other like poems written in the same
powerful style, and commemorating other great events of the
same or subsequent ages. It is, no doubt, of very ancient
date comparatively, that is, with reference to the oldest portions
of the Bible ; and it may very probably have been written in
the prophetical schools, where the older portions of the Book
of Judges were composed, in the same 'age which gave birth
to those other very spirited poems which occur in the Penta-
teuch — in short, in that golden age of Hebrew Literature to
which we owe the poetry of the 'Blessing of Jacob/ 17 the
' Song of Moses/ lB and the ' Prophecies of Balaam/ 19
Listen now to the following passage from this Song : —

4 Jehovah, at Thy going forth from Seir,
At Thy marching from the field of Edom,
The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped,
The clouds also dropped with water.
Before Jehovah the mountains melted,
That Sinai before Jehovah the Elohim of Israel.' *•

And compare the following words from Ps. lxviii : —

* Elohim, at Thy going forth before Thy people,
At Thy marching in the wilderness,
The earth trembled, the heavens too dropped,
Before Elohim,
That Sinai before Elohim the Elohim of Israel.' n

»• z/.i. ,7 G.xlix.1-26. " E.xv.i 18.

M N.xxiii, xxiv. " Ju.v.4,5. « Ps. lxviii. 7, 8;

92 THE AGE OF THE J E HO VIST IN NUMBERS.

Here, too, it cannot be doubted that the one passage has been
directly imitated from the other. Which, again, was the
oldest ? I answer, the Psalm undoubtedly, for these reasons.
In the Psalm the statement stands in close connexion with
the following context, introducing very naturally the account
of the benefits bestowed upon Israel in the wilderness, 22 and
itself also very naturally introduced by the preceding con-
text j 23 whereas in the Song the corresponding passage enters
abruptly, as if derived from another source, there being not
the slightest connexion between it and the verses which pre-
cede and follow it. Again, in the Song there is an appearance
of an expansion of the words of the Psalm : thus ' from Seir,
from the field of Edom ' in the Song seems equivalent to the
simple words ' In the wilderness ' of the Psalmist ; and so, too,
the phrases ' the heavens also dropped, the clouds also dropped
water/ ' the mountains melted/ are mere amplifications of the
older language, ' the heavens also dropped ' and ' that Sinai.'
Moreover, 'the clouds also dropped with water' is but a
feeble repetition of * the heavens also dropped ' ; and the
reference to ' Seir ' and ' Edom ' in the Song is an incorrect
substitute for ' the wilderness ' of the Psalm, since the whole
description evidently refers to the portents at Sinai, 24 long
before the Israelites reached the Edomite territory, 25 but while
Jehovah still ' went before His people* as they 'marched in
the wilderness. 26 Above all, as before, it is most unlikely
that any writer would have changed 'Jehovah the Elohim
of Israel ' of the Song into the tamer expression of the Psalm,
' ELOHIM the Elohim of Israel/ more especially as the writer
of the Psalm has not suppressed the name Jehovah
altogether ; whereas it would be most natural for one who
was imitating an older composition to change ' Elohim' into
'Jehovah* in such a connexion, if 'Jehovah' had become

« v.9-11. w v. 5,6. ** E.xix. 16-19, xx. 18.

■» N.xx. 14-21. *■ E.xiii.20-22.

THE AGE OF THE J EH OVIST IN NUMBERS. 93

familiar in men's mouths as the name of the ' Elohim of
Israel/ which apparently was not the case when the Psalm
was written. Once more, it seems incredible that ' a poet of
remarkable genius,' the writer of a Psalm described as 'the
most spirited, lively, and powerful/ 'the grandest, most
splendid, most artistic/ ' one of the most beautiful and most
original} of the whole collection, should have borrowed two
little scraps from two other ancient documents, one of them
certainly not Mosaic. And, on the other hand, 'what could
be more natural than that words of this Psalm, composed for
so memorable an occasion and fresh in the recollection of the
writers, should have been used by them in N. x. 35 and Ju. v,
as appears from the quotations I have made, as well as from
other minor resemblances which have been pointed out by
critics ? * 7

We conclude, then, that this portion of the Book of
Numbers 28 was written after the fourteenth year of David's
reign, when the ark was brought up to Mount Zion. Let
us now consider the Prophecies of Balaam. 19 From our
point of view we are not troubled here with the strange
occurrence of the ass conversing as a human being with
Balaam, who, however, retained his composure and replied
calmly without any signs of dismay or astonishment, though
no part of the conversation was heard by his servants or
the princes of Moab who travelled in his company, — or
with the fact that the angel was seen by Balaam and the
ass, and spoke with Balaam, but, as before, was neither
seen nor heard by his companions — or by the circumstance
that Balaam must be supposed to have uttered his pro-
phecies, on the impulse of the moment in prophetic rapture,
in the ears — not of Moses and Israel, but of Balak king of
Moab and his princes, and Moses to have secured somehow a

91 comp. Ju.v.3 with Ps.lxviii.4, Ju.v.12 with Ps.lxviii. 18.
" N.x.35.

94 THE AGE OF THE J EH OVIST IN NUMBERS.

manuscript of them — or by the strange phenomenon that
these prophecies are found to be written in the purest Hebrew,
though Balaam was not of Hebrew birth, but summoned by
Balak from his native land on the banks of the Euphrates, 19 —
or by his employing the name Jehovah repeatedly, and even
saying 'Jehovah is my Elohim/ 30 and using in his utterances
the identical language of the dying Jacob in the Book of
Genesis, as where Jacob says in his blessing on Judah —

' He stooped, he crouched as a lion,
Even as a lioness — who shall rouse him ? ' •*

and Balaam says, speaking of Israel —

' He stooped, he lay-down as a lion,
Even as a lioness — who shall rouse him ? ' w

Is it possible that Jacob's Blessing and Balaam's Prop fiecies
may be the work of one and tlie selfsame hand ?

I showed on a former occasion, 33 by considering especially the
Blessing on Judah, that the Blessing of Jacob was probably
written in the midst of David's conquests, about the twelfth
year of his reign. Listen now to these words out of Balaam's
final prophecy : —

' I see him, but not now,
I behold him, but not near.
A Star has appeared out of Jacob,
And a Sceptre has arisen out of Israel,
And has smitten the temples of Moab,
And the crown of the head of all the sons of pride.
And Edom shall be a possession —
Yea, Seir shall be a possession — his enemies' :
But Israel shall be gaining force. ,,l

Here is plainly announced, in the form of a prophecy, the
conquest by Israel of Moab and Edom ; and ' it is not
possible to see in the illustrious king, from whom this
picture is borrowed, any later one than David/ 35 who smote

» N.xxii.5, see#.C.I./.734. w N.xxii.i8. « G.xlix.9. n N.xxiv.9.
w /.62-67. u N.xxiv.17,18. •» Ewald {Hist, oflsraet), Eng.Ed.I./.io8.

THE AGE OF THE JE HO VI ST IN NUMBERS. 95

both Moab and Edom, as no other king did, Moab first
and Edom afterwards, as here predicted. ' He smote Moab
and measured them with a line, casting them down to the
ground ; even with two lines measured he to put to death,
and with one full line to keep alive ' — massacring, there-
fore, in cold blood two out of three of all his male (?)
Moabite captives; 'and so the Moabites became David's
servants and brought gifts.' 86 And he 'put garrisons in
Edom ; throughout all Edom put he garrisons ; and all
they of Edom became David's servants ; ,a7 though after-
wards apparently, perhaps on some revolt, 'Joab went up
to bury the slain' of Israel, after he had slain every male
in Edom ; for ' six months did Joab remain there with all
Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom.' 38 But
David smote also in an equally memorable manner the
people of Ammon. 'And David gathered all the people
together, and went to Rabbah the royal city, and fought
against it. And he brought forth the people that were
therein, and put them under saws and under harrows of
iron and under axes of iron, and made them pass through
(the brick-kiln, or rather, as it should probably be rendered,
made them pass over, i.e. in the fire) to Molech ; ' in other
words, David sawed asunder, and tore with harrows, and
chopped with axes, and burnt alive, his Ammonite captives
out of Rabbah ; ' and thus did he unto all the cities of the
children of Ammon.' 39 Now Edom, Moab, and Ammon
are continually named together in the Bible, and Moab and
Ammon are coupled almost invariably. 40 And therefore it

■• 2S.viii.2. ,T 2S.viii.i4.

»» iK.xi.15,16. "• 2S.xU.31.

*• 'Edom, Moab, and Ammon/ D.ii.4,9,19, xxiii.3,7, 1S.xiv.47, iK.xi.i,
lCh.xviii.il, 2Ch. xx. 10,22,23, Ps.lxxxiii.6,7, Is.xi.14, Jer.ix.26, xxv.21, xxvii.3,
zl.li, xlviii.1-xlix.22, Ez.xxv. 1-14, Dan.xi.41, Am.i. 11-H.3, comp. 'Moab
and Ammon,' G.xix.37,38, Ju.iii.12,13, x.6, xi.15, 2S.viii.12, iK.xi.7,33,
2K.xxiii.i3, xxiv.2, 2Ch.xx.i,xxiv.26, Ezr.ix.i, Neh.xiii.1,23, Zeph.ii.8,9.

96 THE AGE OF THE J EH OVIST IN NUMBERS.

is most unlikely that any writer, whether predicting before-
hand, as the traditionary view supposes, or recounting
afterwards, the triumphs of David's reign, should have
mentioned only the conquest of Moab and that of Edom
and said nothing whatever about the conquest of Ammon.
It would seem that this prophecy must have been written
in the interval of five or six years between the conquests
of Moab and Edom and that of Ammon, at a time when
the reigning king of Ammon was on very friendly terms
with David. 41 We are thus brought to the very same date
exactly for Balaam's Prophecies as for the Blessing of
Jacob, viz., about the twelfth year of David's reign in the
midst of his conquests, when the ' lion's whelp ' had ' gone-
up from the prey ' and had ' crouched ' again for a time, and
' who should rouse him ? ' 4 *

There are other indications of the same age in other
parts of Balaam's Prophecies, as, for instance, in the words
which say that Israel's king 'shall be higher than Agag,' 43
which must have been written at a time when the power of
Agag, king of Amalek, was still fresh in the recollection of
the Hebrew people or, at all events, had not yet passed out
of the popular talk. In other words, these prophecies
must have been composed not long after the time when Saul
1 utterly destroyed ' the Amalekites, and Samuel ' hewed
Agag in pieces before Jehovah at the Gilgal,' 44 that is, they
were written in the early part of David's reign. In short,
as I have said, no sign of time has yet been traced in all
the Jehovistic matter to the end of the Book of Joshua,
which carries the age of its writer or writers certainly
below the first years of Solomon's reign. 45

But, after all, these Jehovistic amplifications of the
more ancient Elohistic Narrative with that Narrative it-

41 2S.X.2. ** G.xlix.9. « N.xxiv.7.

«• iS.xv.8,33. «*/.57.

THE AGE OF THE JE HO VIST IN NUMBERS. 97

self, which together we may call the Older or Original
Story of the Exodus, make up less than one-half of
the whole work, as it now lies before us, to the end of
Joshua. More than one-half, therefore, still remains to be
accounted for ; and of this about as much as the Elohistic
matter belongs to the Deuteronomist, and about as much
as the Jehovistic matter belongs to the Levitical Legislation.

I shall speak more fully hereafter about these two sets of
passages. For the present I confine myself to a few closing
remarks upon the general results of these criticisms. We
now find that Israel was under Divine Teaching just exactly
as we are. We are now able to observe in Israel, as in
other nations, the signs of growth and orderly progress,
the people making gradual advancement in religious truth
and moral perception, under the teaching of those great
men whom the Spirit of God enlightened and quickened,
&nd whom His Providence raised up among them from time
to time, for this end first, but with a further view to the
education of the race, even of us among the rest. Their
history now becomes rational and intelligible, being stripped
— not of all that is supernatural or Divine, but — of all that
is portentous, perplexing, and contradictory. It will no
longer be full of marvels and prodigies, painfully stagger-
ing to an intelligent faith — as where* Elisha by a word
makes the iron axe-head float, 46 or his bones revive a dead
man, 47 or where the Jordan, when overflowing all its banks,
is suddenly stopped in its course, its waters 'rising up in
a heap* till Israel had crossed its bed on dry land 48 — and
these wonders being profusely lavished on a favoured people
or individual, and performed oftentimes, as it seems to our
reason, the guiding light which God has given us, without
any adequate object or proportionate result, as where the

*• 2K.vi.5-7. 4T 2K.xiii.2i* « Jaii.15-17.

H

98 THE AGE OF THE JEHOVIST IN NUMBERS.

ass reproves Balaam with human voice 49 or the whale
swallows Jonah. 80 It is surely strengthening and comforting
to know that God, our God, is amongst us still, as He was of
old, speaking to us by His Spirit in our hearts and
consciences with that still small voice which is mightier
far and more effective than any thunders of Sinai could
be. Let us bless God that we live in an age when the
mist has been cleared away which hid from those who
lived before us the true history of Israel, and made the
Bible to many thoughtful and devout persons a stone of
stumbling and a rock of offence — ay, which veiled from us
the face of our Heavenly Father, and darkened the teaching
of the Gospel of Christ.

*• N.xxii. 28-30. *• Jon. i. 17, ii.10.

LECTURE VIII.

H2

SUMMARY.

The Ten Commandments in E.xx. inserted. by the Deuteronomist ; the
New Commentary admits that these differ ' in several weighty particulars '
from those in D.v, and that neither copy represents correctly those actually
uttered by Jehovah on Sinai ; fallacious view of the Commentary on this
point ; no room for the Decalogue in the Original Story ; the context quoted,
and shown to be an early portion of the Jehovistic matter ; it contains no
sign of the utterance of the Ten Commandments ; a series of very different
commands received by Moses in the Original Story, and made the basis
of the Covenant between Jehovah and Israel ; the points of resemblance
between the two series show that the Decalogue did not exist in the Original
Story ; the Book of the Covenant belongs to a rude and primitive age ;
Its barbarous slave-laws ; impiety of our ascribing these to the Deity ; fallacious
view of the New Commentary on this point ; these laws composed fur a
settled agricultural people, as in the time of Saul ; perhaps a transcript of
the ' manner ' or common-law of the kingdom, as administered by Samuel
and ' written in a book ' by him for Saul ; the comfort of being released from
the moral difficulty of believing that such laws ever had Divine authority.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

HAVE already mentioned the Deuteronomist l as
the writer of some portions of the story of the
Exodus, as it now stands, from Genesis to Joshua.
Among these, of course, is the Book of Deuter-
onomy itself, or the greatest part of it, which is written in a
totally different style from any passages of the Original Story,
and about which I shall hereafter give you some further in-
formation. The most important, however, of all the Deuter-
onomistic insertions is not the Book of Deuteronomy itself,
however interesting and instructive that is in many respects,
but the Decalogue or Ten Commandments in E.xx. The
New Bible Commentary admits that these, as we now read
them, recorded first in Exodus 2 and repeated in Deuter-
onomy, 3 but in forms 'differing from each other in several
weighty particulars/ 4 cannot be in either form a genuine copy
of the ' Ten Words/ as, according to the traditionary view,
they were spoken by the Divine Voice on Sinai. The writer
suggests that the Ten Commandments were originally uttered
all in the same terse form as those which now remain, ' Thou
shalt not kill/ ' Thou shalt not steal/ &c, and were afterwards
— those sacred words, supposed to have been formulated by

1 /97-

Ex.xx.1-17.

■ D.v.6,21.

B. C.I./. 335.

102 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

Infinite Wisdom and delivered with solemn emphasis in the
ears of all Israel ' out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud,
and of the thick darkness, with a great voice ' 5 — considerably
amplified by Moses, 6 a supposition which is, of course, entirely
subversive of the usual traditionary notion. Thus, for in-
stance, the Fourth Commandment, as uttered by Jehovah
on Sinai, was merely the brief injunction, ' Remember the
sabbath-day to sanctify it.' It was Moses who added the
further details, 6 Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy
work : but the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy
Elohim ; thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor
thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; ' and this ad-
dition appears — but with some variation 7 — in both forms of
the Decalogue. But in Exodus he has given this as the
reason for keeping the sabbath — ' For in six days Jehovah
made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and
rested the seventh day ; therefore JEHOVAH blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it ; ' whereas in Deuteronomy he
has given a totally different reason for observing it — ' And
remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and
that Jehovah thy Elohim brought thee forth from thence
through a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm ; therefore
Jehovah thy Elohim commanded thee to keep the sabbath-
day/ And similar additions are on this view supposed to
have been made by Moses to the second, third, fifth, and tenth
Commandments, as originally spoken by Jehovah. It is un-
fortunate for this theory that even, in their reduced forms,
consisting only of a few words, the two copies of the Fourth
Commandment are not identical ; since in Exodus we read

• D.v.22. • B. c.\.p. 336.

7 D.iv. 14, has ' nor thine ox, nor thine ass ' instead of * nor thy cattle ' of E.xx.
10, and adds at the end • that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as
well as thou.'

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 103

'Remember the sabbath-day to sanctify it/ 8 and in Deuter-
onomy, ' Observe the sabbath-day to sanctify it ; * 9 so that the
words of the Commentary, written with reference to the longer
statement, apply also to the shorter statement of these Com-
mandments — ' Each is said, with reiterated emphasis, to con-
tain the words that were actually spoken by the Lord and
written by him upon the stones. ... It has been generally
assumed that the whole of one or other of these copies was
written on the Tables. Most commentators have supposed
that the original document is in Exodus, and that the author
of Deuteronomy wrote from memory, with variations suggested
at the time. Others have conceived that Deuteronomy must
furnish the more correct form, since the Tables must have
been in actual existence when the Book was written. But
neither of these views can be fairly reconciled with the state-
ments in Exodus and Deuteronomy, to which reference has
been made. If either copy, as a whole, represents what was
written on the Tables, it is obvious that the other cannot do

so.

10

But, when you have heard the Jehovistic matter extracted
by itself from E.xix,xx, as you heard before the Elohistic
matter in E.i-vi, 11 you will see that there is no room whatever
for the Ten Commandments in the Original Story of the
Exodus. For this is how that story ran : —

' And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morn-
ing, that there were voices (or thunderings) and lightnings,
and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the sound of a trumpet
very loud ; and all the people trembled that were in the
Camp. And Moses brought forth the people to meet Eloh i M
out of the Camp, and they took their stand underneath the
Mount. And Mount Sinai was all of it smoke, because
Jehovah had comedown upon it in fire ; and its smoke went

• E.xx.8. » D.v.12. » AC.I./.335-& " A72,73.

104 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

up as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount trembled
greatly. And the trumpet-sound kept going very much
louder and louder : Moses spake, and Elohim answered him
by a voice (or thunderings). And all the people were seeing
the voices and the flashes and the trumpet-sound and the
Mountain smoking ; and, when the people saw, they shrank
back and stood at a distance. And they said to Moses,
" Speak thou with us, and we will hear ; but let not Elohim
speak with us, lest we die." And Moses said unto the people,
" Fear ye not ; for Elohim hath come that He may prove you
and that His fear may be before you that ye sin not." So the
people stood at a distance, and Moses drew near unto the
thick darkness where ELOHIM was/ 12

You will have observed in this short passage five times
Elohim and only once Jehovah ; in other words, it is one
of the earlier additions to the Elohistic Narrative, when, as we
suppose, 18 the writer had not yet come to use very freely the
name JEHOVAH. It is this passage evidently which is referred
to in those verses of Ps.lxviii which I quoted in my last
Lecture —

1 Elohim, at Thy going forth before Thy people,
At Thy marching in the wilderness,
The eanh trembled, the heavens also dropped,
Before Elohim,
That Sinai before Elohim, the Elohim of Israel* ; u

where allusion is made to ' the whole mountain quaking
greatly,' lb and to the heavy rain-storm which might naturally
be supposed to accompany the ' thunderings and lightnings/ l6
This portion, therefore, of the Original Story must have been
already in existence at the time when Ps.lxviii was composed,
and was in the hands, most probably, of the same circle of
prophetical writers from which the Psalm itself proceeded.

" E.xix.i6-I9, xx.18-21. " /.85,9c u Ps.ixviii.7,8.

» E.xix.18. ' «• E.xix.16, xx.18.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 105

But where now, in this passage of the Original Story, are
the Ten Commandments ? Or where is there any room for
them ? In the account, which we have now before us in the
Bible, they are inserted just before the words ' and all the
people were seeing the voices and flashes and the trumpet-
sound and the mountain smoking ; ' where reference is clearly
made to the previous statement that, ' when it was morning,
there were voices and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the
mount and the sound of a trumpet very loud, and Mount
Sinai was all of it smoke, because JEHOVAH had come down
upon it in fire.' I7 The people, we are told, were appalled by
the mighty thunderings, the terrific flashes of lightning, the
awful trumpet-sounds, and the thick smoke that covered the
quaking mount and ' went up like the smoke of a furnace/ l8
But not a word is said about their having heard a tremendous
Voice, uttering audibly the Ten Commandments. Rather, it
is plainly implied that they had not heard any such utterances ;
for they entreat Moses saying, ' Speak thou with us and we
will hear ; but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die.' 19
And so Moses alone draws near to Elohim, 20 and receives at
long series of commands of a totally different character, 21
which he afterwards communicates to the people, and on
the basis of which, not upon that of the Ten Command-
ments, a Covenant is solemnly made between Jehovah and
Israel. 2 *

Moses received, I say, on this occasion ' a long series of
commands of a totally different character* from the Ten
Commandments. Yet some of them are not unlike, as,
for instance, the very first injunction, ' Thou shalt not make
with Me Elohim of silver and ye shall not make you
ELOHIM of gold.' 23 But then how tame would this be if
the Divine Voice had been represented as having already

,f E.xix.16,18, "E.xx.18. »» E.xx.19. *• E.xx.21.

fl E.xx.22, &c » E.xxiv.3-8. « f E.xx.23.

106 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

uttered in the ears of all Israel the Second Commandment
with all its details, ' Thou shalt not make for thyself any
graven image/ &c. ? ** In like manner the words ' Six days
shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt
rest, that so thine ox and thine ass may repose, and the son
of thy handmaid and the sojourner may be refreshed,' a5 would
have been quite superfluous, if the Fourth Commandment, with
its much more precise and full directions, had been previously
published. Again, the words, ' Elohim shalt thou not revile,
and the prince among thy people shalt thou not curse/ 25
correspond in some sense with the language of the Third
Commandment, and ' he that curseth his father or his mother
shall surely be put to death/ 27 with that of the Fifth ; and so
in other instances. But there is no ground for supposing that
these laws are only an expansion and explanation, or a re-
peated enforcement, of the Ten Commandments ; for these
last are more full than the others, and are perfectly clear,
and need no enlargement or explanation ; and surely a pri-
vate communication to Moses can hardly be thought of as
' enforcing ' commands represented as having been uttered by
God Himself, with awful power and majesty, in the hearing
of all the people.

In short, it will be seen at once that these laws in
E.xxi-xxiii are, as a whole, altogether different in tone and
character from the Ten Commandments. They contain, for
instance, a number of details as to matters connected with
worship or with social and private life, which betray unmis-
takably the signs of a rude and primitive age. Thus we
read ' An altar of earth shall ye make for Me ; and thou shalt
sacrifice upon it thy burnt-offerings and thy peace-offerings,
thy sheep and thy oxen ; and, if thou shalt make for me an
altar of stones, thou shalt not build them of hewn stones ; if

u E.xx.4-6. » E.xxiii.12. M E.xxii.28. » E.xxi.17.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 107

thou hast waved thy tool upon it, then shalt thou defile it' M
And here we find ourselves in an age when the first rude
altars of earth or rough stones were made on high-places in
all parts of the land, at Mizpah, 89 at Ramah, 30 at Bethel, 81 at
the Gilgal, 32 and were allowed or even encouraged by these
laws to be made, ' in every place where I record My name
I will come unto thee and I will bless thee/ M before any
splendid Temple had been built with its one brazen altar, 84
upon which all sacrifices were to be offered, ' in the place
which Jehovah had chosen/ 35 — in other words, before the time
of Solomon or even of David's Tabernacle on Mount Zion,
where probably stood also a more elaborate altar than was
allowed by these ordinances 86

But we find here other laws ascribed to JEHOVAH, which, so
long as they are believed to have Divine authority, might be
justly appealed to, and no doubt have been appealed to, as
sanctioning the worst evils of slavery. ' When a man shall
smite his servant or his handmaid with a rod and he die under
his hand, he shall certainly be punished. Only, if he shall
stand a day or two days, he shall not be punished ; for he is
his money/ 37 Let us thank God that we are no longer
required to ascribe to the Most Holy and Merciful Creator,
'the God of the spirits of all flesh/ 88 our Heavenly Father,
this horrible command, which an orthodox German commen-
tator very honestly explains as follows : — ' Through his
remaining in life, if only for one or two days [N.B. however
mangled or maimed], it became evident that the master did
not wish to kill him ; if, however, after this he died, the loss
of the slave was punishment enough for his master' 89 And,
strange to say, the same language is repeated in the New
Bible Commentary — i The master was permitted to retain the

n E. xx. 24, 25.

n iS.vii.5.9.

* iS.vii.17.

« 1S.X.3.

w 1S.xi.15.

M E.xx.24.

■• 1K.ix.25.

•» D.xii.5,6.

■• iK.i.5o,5i,53,ii.28,29.

,7 E.xxi. 20,21.

n N.xvi.22,xxvii.6.

• Keil,I./.472.

io8 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS,

power of chastising his slave with a rod ; but the indulgence
of unbridled temper was so far kept in check by his incurring
punishment if the slave died under his hand. If, however, the
slave survived the castigation a day or two, it was assumed
that the offence of the master had not been so heinous, and he
did not become amenable to the law, because the loss of the
slave, who by old custom was recognized as his property, was
accounted, under the circumstances, as a punishment!** Why,
what could a Legree have wished more than this, except the
addition of the previous command, ' If his master have given
him a wife and she have borne him sons or daughters, the
wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go
out by himself' 41 — 'go out,' either 'free for nothing,' as this
law prescribes, 42 after six years' service, or else, I suppose, ' go
out free ' by death, even death under a brutal castigation, ' if
he shall stand a day or two' — which, says the same candid
German writer, ' may appear hard, but it was rightly grounded
in the nature of slavery. In order, however, to soften the
hardship of separation from wife or children, it is allowed to
the slave to remain in the service of his master, provided he
will for ever renounce his freedom.' 43 In other words, the
poor wretch — a Hebrew slave — is here tempted to buy his
own freedom by abandoning his wife and children ? Slaves
they were already— and so a Hebrew might sell his own
daughter into slavery by another of these laws 44 — and slaves
they are to remain ; they have only been bred, it seems, for
the master's use. But they will be deprived of the little com-
fort of living together, unless the husband and the father will
consent to become a slave for ever ! 46 And the New Bible
Commentary says — ' The protection here afforded to the life
of a slave may seem to us but a slight one. But it is the very
earliest trace of such protection in legislation, and it stands in

«• B. C.I./. 345. « E.xxi.4. " E.xxi.2.

« Keil,I./.469. « E.xxi.7. ° E.xxi.5,6.

THE TEN COMMASDMEKTS. 109

strong and favourable contrast with the old laws of Greece,
Rome, and other nations. These regulations were most
likely as much as was feasible at the time, to mitigate the
cruelty of ancient practice ; they were as much as the hard-
ness of the hearts of the people would bear/ 46 Such remarks
might be just if these laws were merely Mosaic laws, that is,
laws adopted or originated by Moses and ascribed by him to
the Deity. But to say that the Divine Being ever really
sanctioned or enforced, much less originated, such laws as
these — that for the Great God, the ' Faithful Creator,' 47 this
was ' as much as was feasible at the time/ that He could not
do more in the cause of humanity ' because of the hardness of
heart ' of his chosen people — is simply to blaspheme the Holy
Name of our Father in Heaven. Even the text appealed to
says, ' Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered
you to put away your wives/ 48 Verily, those of the clergy, of
all ranks and denominations, will have much to answer for,
who will shut their eyes obstinately to the light of Modern
Criticism, and allow their flocks still to believe that the slave-
holder may draw support for his practices from the actual
utterances of the Living God. Either these words are God's,
as the Bible says, 49 or they are not. Let us not any longer
blink the question, but tell the plain truth to our people, and
trust God with the consequences.

I have said that these laws show signs of having been
written in a rude and primitive age, and, I may add, for an
agricultural people. ' They imply that the people of Israel
were not only settled in Palestine, but were in peaceful and
undisturbed possession of the land. They betray not a trace
of the disturbance of the conquest and the struggle for
possession, but rather are employed in giving careful prescrip-
tions for the moral and judicial cases likely to occur among a

«• B. C. I./. 346. *' 1 Pet. iv. 19.

4- Mt.xix.8, Mk.x.3-5. *• E.xx.22,xxi.i,xxiv.3,4,7,8.

no THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

people employed in agriculture and living in regular inter-
course with themselves and with strangers. That others also,
besides Israelites, possessed fields or vineyards or olive-
gardens, is nowhere implied : rather a humane and mild
treatment of non-Israelites remaining in the land is enjoined, 40
just in the same way as that of widows and orphans. 61 This
remark hardly allows us, even if we regard this law-book as
the oldest handed down in the Pentateuch, to carry back its
composition to the time of the Judges ; it seems rather to
belong to the time of the Kings/ 52

Rather, it seems to belong to the time of the first king,
Saul. We read that, when Saul was made king, * Samuel
told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a
book, and laid it up before JEHOVAH.' 5a What was this
' manner or custom of the kingdom ' which Samuel ' told the
people ' ? Apparently it was the system by which they were
to be ruled under Saul, — the common-law, as it were, which he
himself had hitherto administered in his yearly circuits to
judge the people ; for as we are told, 'Samuel judged Israel
all the days of his life ; and he went from year to year in
circuit to Bethel and the Gilgal and Mizpah, and judged
Israel in all those places ; and his return was to Ramah, for
there was his house, and there he built an altar unto Jeho-
vah/ 54 The phrase used repeatedly in these laws with
reference to a dispute or trespass, ' bring unto ELOHIM,'
'come unto Elohim/ 55 implies just such an age as this, when
Samuel ' went in circuit ' to different sacred places and judged
the people 'before Jehovah/ 66 that is, before the altar or
within the chapel of the high-place, deciding the lighter cases
himself, but having recourse in doubtful matters to some

* E.xxii.2i,xxiii.9. M E.xxii.22 24. ** Graf, Gtsch. Buch. t p.2<).

u iS.x.25. •« iS.vii. 15-17.

*» E.xxi.6,xxii.8,9, where the E.V. has * judges, ' but the Heb. 'ELOHIM.'
M iS.vii.6.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. lit

sacred ' ephod ' 57 or other mode of divination, by which the
Divine sentence was supposed to be obtained, as Jethro
advises Moses, ' Be thou for the people towards ELOHIM, that
thou mayest bring the causes unto ELOHIM/ m It would
hardly have been used in the later time when David or
Solomon administered justice either in their own persons 69 or
by means of their officers. 60 May we not, in short, have in
these very laws of Exodus a copy of that ' common-law of the
kingdom/ which Samuel had hitherto administered and by
which the new king was henceforth to be guided ? We are
told that Samuel ' wrote it in a book and laid it up before
Jehovah/ 61 And so we are also told that the laws we are now
considering were ' written ' in a ' book* by Moses ; 62 and these
laws too, as we shall see, and not the Ten Commandments,
are said in the Original Story to have been written by the
Finger of ELOHIM on two tables of stone, which were put into
the Ark and laid up before Jehovah, as the laws by which
the people were to be governed, and on the basis of which the
Covenant was made between Jehovah and Israel.

However this may be, it seems clear that these laws must
have been written in the age of Samuel, except the last twelve
verses 63 and one or two other small insertions, 64 which are due
to the later Deuteronomist. Let us rejoice to know that the
Divine Spirit is no longer to be held responsible, as the
traditionary view supposes, not only for the innumerable con-
tradictions of scientific fact and discrepancies in statement,
which are observed in the story of the Pentateuch, but for
moral delinquencies, like that which we have been considering,
and many others of a similar kind. For myself, I repeat,
what I have publicly stated, that it was not the scientific
difficulties in the accounts of the Creation and the Flood,

iT iS.xxi.9,xxiii.6,9,xxx.7, andxiv.18 (LXX). M E.xviii.19.

*• i.K.iii.28, vii. 7. •• 2S.viii.i5,xv.2-6. •■ iS.x.25.

n E.xxiv.4,7. •» E.xxiii. 22-33. *' E.xxiii.i3,i5bc,i9.

112 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

which brought my own mind to a stand, and compelled me to
seek a satisfactory solution of them. Those difficulties I met,
as they are met now by many, by supposing that they were
mere reflections of ancient myths — not, of course, to be
received as infallibly or even historically true, but such as a
good and true man might write for the edification of an
ignorant age. But the fact that such barbarous commands,
as those we have heard to-day, were here attributed to the
Fountain of all Goodness, was painfully forced upon my mind
while engaged in translating the Book of Exodus into Zulu.
I felt that it was absolutely impossible to believe this, without
abandoning all trust in a righteous and perfect Being, whose
children we are, and whose moral excellencies are faintly
reflected in our own. From that time I resolved that, cost
what it might in time and labour, ay, and in other things
which men hold dear, I would, God helping me, search into
the mystery, and master, if possible, the history of the com-
position of the Pentateuch. I thank God that I have finished
my work, at least sufficiently for all practical purposes, and
am now able to lay before you the ripe results of my labours.
And, if I have helped in any way to relieve your minds and
the minds of others, as well as my own, from the misery of
finding such laws as I have quoted, and other like laws,
ascribed to the God of Truth and Love, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in a Book which traditionary teaching
represents as Divinely infallible, I feel that I shall not have
lived in vain.

LECTURE IX.

SUMMARY.

Recapitulation ; the Book of the Covenant, with its laws on slave holding,
retaliation, cattle-stealing, grass -burning, witchcraft ; its three agricultural
Feasts, in Spring, Summer, and Autumn ; its words apparently enjoining
human sacrifices ; plain evidence in Scripture of human sacrifices being com-
mon in Israel, derived from the practice of the Canaanites ; example in the
case of Jephthah ; the story of Abraham's sacrifice written to check the
practice, but not condemning it ; human sacrifices general among other ancient
nations ; the practice lasting among the Hebrews to Josiah's time ; signs in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel that the Original Story was appealed to as enjoining
such sacrifices ; in Micah's days they were regarded as acts of piety ; human
sacrifices in Christendom ; * giving up witchcraft ' in what sense ' giving up
the Bible.'

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL.

JN my last Lecture I directed your attention to the
series of laws in E.xxi-xxiii, which are represented
as having been imparted by Jehovah to Moses
at the foot of Mount Sinai, while the people in
terror stood afar off, and Moses alone l drew near unto the
thick darkness where Elohim was/ These laws, as I
showed, bear the marks of having been composed in a rude
age and for an agricultural people — in short, of having been
written in Samuel's time, before the arts of civilised life had
made any progress in Israel, as they did soon afterwards
during the martial age of David and the luxurious reign of
Solomon. Among these were the oppressive slave-laws which
we noticed, and that law of retaliation which our Saviour
expressly set aside by His own gracious teaching, ' life for
life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe/ !

But there are other regulations, the reasons for which
we can well understand, and the good sense of which we can
thoroughly appreciate, from our own experience in a land
like this. Thus we read 'When a man shall steal an ox
or a sheep, and slaughter it or sell it, five oxen shall he
repay for the ox and four sheep for the sheep ' ; 2 and we

1 E.xxi. 23-25, Mt.v.38,39. * E.xxii.i.

1 2

n6 HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL,

remember how, when Nathan the prophet brought home to
David his guilt in the case of Bathsheba, by relating the
parable of the poor man's ewe-lamb which the rich man
had seized and slaughtered for his guest, the king replied,
before he recognised the prophet's meaning, ' he shall restore
the lamb fourfold,'* in exact accordance with this law,
which was still apparently in force as part of the law of
the realm, administered formerly as common-law by Samuel,
but reduced, as we suppose, to a written statute in the
law-book before us at the time when Saul, the first king,
was chosen to reign over Israel. 4 So, too, we have here the
very reasonable ordinance, 'When a man shall eat-off a
field or a vineyard, yea, shall let loose his beast that it
eat-off in the field of another, the best of his field and the
best of his vineyard shall he repay/ 5 and again, ' If fire
go-forth and catch dry grass, so that stack or standing-corn
or field be devoured, he that Jrindled the conflagration shall
certainly repay.' 6 We find here also the command, 'A
witch thou shalt not let live,' 7 and we remember how the
witch of Endor said to Saul, when he went in his despair
to consult her before his last fatal fight with the Philistines,
'Behold! thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath
cut off those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out
of the land ; wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life
to cause me to die ? ' 8 But Saul, from all that we know
about him, was not a man to have set his face so sternly
against witchcraft from his own mere motion. It is probable
that, in his early days as king, he had exhibited this zeal
against witchcraft in obedience to this very law, and under
the direct influence of Samuel himself.

So in these laws we have three agricultural feasts estab-
lished, 9 at which the Israelites are enjoined to ' appear before

* 2S.xii.6. 4 /.1 10, 1 1 1. • E.xxii.5. • E.xxii.6.

' E.xxii. 18. ' xS.xxviii.9. * E.xxiii, 14-16.

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL. 117

JEHOVAH/ 10 probably it is meant at the nearest highplace,
and 'not to appear empty/ 11 that is, to bring gifts and
sacrifices, — namely, the ' Feast of Mazzoth ' (or unleavened
cakes), the Spring festival, the 'Feast of Harvest, the first-
fruits of their labours/ the Summer festival, and the ' Feast
of Ingathering at the end of the year/ the joyous Autumn
festival, when thank-offerings were made for the blessings of
the year. Naturally this last — afterwards called the ' Feast
of Tabernacles ' ia — was the favourite festival, when the
weather would be fine and the roads dry, and all things con-
spired to heighten the universal gladness and mirth. It is
this feast which is probably referred to in the Book of Judges
as held to Jehovah in Shiloh yearly, when 'the daughters of
Shiloh would come out to dance in dances/ 18 And so in
the days of Elkanah the father of Samuel it seems to have
been the only festival regularly observed by pious Israelites ;
for we are told how he went up, he and all his house, 'to
offer the yearly sacrifice* at Shiloh. 14 In Solomon's time,
however, the custom of celebrating all three feasts was fully
established ; ' and three times in the year did Solomon offer
burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar which he
had built unto Jehovah.' 15 Hence we may conclude that it
had been previously enjoined, as we suppose, in this law-book
of Samuel's time.

Once more, we read 'Thy fullness and thy tears' — in
other words, the firstfruits of thy threshing-floor and of thy
presses for wine and oil — ' thou shalt not delay ; the firstborn
of thy children thou shalt give to Me. So shalt thou do
with thine ox, with thy sheep ; seven days shall it be with its
dam ; on the eighth day thou shalt give it to Me.' 16 These

'• E.xxiii.17. » E.xxiii. 15.

12 L.xxiii.34, D.xvi. 13,16, xxxi.io, 2Ch.viii. 13, Ezr.iii.4, Zech.xiv. 16.

13 Ju.xxi. 19-21. '* lS.i.3,2i,ii. 19.
u 1K.ix.25. " E.xxii.29,30.

n8 HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL.

words sound as if they directly enjoined the practice of human
sacrifice — ' the firstborn of thy children thou shalt give to
Me ' ; and nothing whatever is said about the way in which
these firstborn children were to be 'given to Jehovah ' ; only
it is added, ' so shalt thou do with thine ox, with thy sheep ;
on the eighth day thou shalt give it to Me.' To all appear-
ance, then, the firstborn children were to be given to Jehovah
just in the very same way as the firstling of an ox or a sheep,
and therefore, though probably not before the eighth day, they
were to be sacrificed. This, I repeat, is the direct and
obvious meaning of the passage ; and I cannot undertake to
say that it was not the meaning actually intended by the
writer in Exodus. It is true that, as the story now stands,
these firstborns of men ' given to JEHOVAH ' are elsewhere in
the Pentateuch ordered to be ' redeemed.' 17 But there is no
such direction in the Original Story, of which this law-book
forms a part ; it only occurs in later passages, either inserted
by the Deuteronomist or belonging to the Levitical Legisla-
tion, and reflecting therefore, as we shall see hereafter, the
views entertained in Israel centuries after the age of Saul and
Samuel. We must remember that in those more ancient
times there was, apparently, nothing horrible or revolting in
the thought of human firstborns being sacrificed to Jehovah
or Yahveh, first killed and then burnt upon the altar ; and
it is very certain that pious — or, as we should say, superstitious
Israelites did sacrifice their firstborn children, male and
female, in this way, following the practice of the tribes of
Canaan in their worship of the Sun-God ; as we read of the
king of Moab, when sore pressed in battle by Israel, ' taking
his eldest son who should have reigned in his stead, and
offering him as a burnt-offering upon the wall,' 18 or as we are
told generally of the Canaanite tribes, ' even their sons and
their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their Elohim.' I9
,T E.xiii. !3,xxxiv.20, N.iii.46,47,xviii. 15,16. ,s 2K.iii.27. ,0 D.xii.31.

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL. * 119

This is so distinctly stated in the Bible itself that there can
be no room for any doubt on this point Thus we are ex-
pressly told that the kings Ahaz and Manasseh made each
his son to 'pass-over in fire/ 20 and again that the people
generally ' made their sons and their daughters to pass-over
in the fire/ 21 And that this expression ' make to pass-over
in the fire ' does not mean, as some have supposed, a merely
harmless ceremony, by which these children were dedicated
to the Sun-God without any bodily injury, but is employed as
an euphemism for actual slaying and burning, is abundantly
plain from such passages as these — 'They have built the
high-places of Tophet which is in the valley of the son of
Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire/ 22
— ' They have built also the high-places of the Baal, to burn
their children with fire as burnt-offerings unto the Baal/ 23 —
1 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters- whom
thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto
them to be devoured/ 21 — ' Is this of thy whoredoms a small
matter that thou hast slain My children and delivered them
to cause them to pass-over in the fire for them ? ' to — ' For,
when they had slain their children to their idols, then they
came the same day into My sanctuary to profane it/ 26 — in
other words, they considered these human sacrifices to be not
at all incongruous with the worship of Jehovah, but regarded
them rather as an evidence of their piety, a proof of their
intense devotion to that worship — and yet once more, ' Yea,
they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and
shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their
daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and
the land was polluted with blood.' 27

There can be no doubt, then, that the sacrificing of first-
born children was a common practice throughout the whole

20 2K.xvi.3,xxi.6. 8I 2K.xvii.17. K Jer.vii.31. » Jer.xix.5.

2i E2.xvi.20. * 3 Ez.xvi.21. M Ez.xxiii.39. * 7 Ps.cvi.37,38.

i2o* HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL.

land of Israel, at least from the time of King Ahaz down-
wards. But, if from the time of Ahaz, then assuredly from a
much earlier date; for, when that king reigned, three
centuries after the death of Saul, the Canaanite tribes had
long ceased to exist, as distinct from the Israelites and likely
to corrupt them by their idolatries. They had either been
exterminated, or had been reduced to the condition of bond-
men in Solomon's time, 88 or, having lived among the Israelites
on friendly terms, as Araunah the Jebusite king under
David, 29 had intermarried and mingled in family relations
with them. 30 In short, if they learned these practices from
the tribes of Canaan, it must have been in the very earliest
period, immediately after the conquest, as the result of these
very intermarriages, and the free intercourse which was main-
tained between the new-comers and those who survived of the
older inhabitants, — just exactly as the Norman invaders
mingled freely and intermarried with the Saxon population
of England, when the first fierce strife of the conflict was
over.

Accordingly the Bible tells us of human sacrifices being
offered to Yah veh in those early times, — not merely in the
case of Agag, king of Amalek, whom Samuel ' hewed in
pieces before Yahveh/ 31 or in that of Saul's seven sons and
grandsons, whom David 'delivered into the hands of the
Gibeonites, and they hanged ' — or, rather, impaled or crucified
— 'them before Yahveh,' 38 — but especially in that of Jephthah
the Giieadite, who offered his daughter, his only child, as a
burnt-offering to Yahveh; 33 and it is very noticeable that
the account of this sacrifice is given, by a writer who probably
lived in the age of Samuel, without one word of censure or
expression of abhorrence at the action. So, again, the story
of Abraham's sacrifice in 'G.xxii, a Jehovistic narrative which

21 iK.ix.20,21. w 2S.xxiv. 18-24. M D.vii.3, J.xxiii.12.

»' lS.xv.33. " 2S.XXI.9. M Ju.xi.31.

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL. 121

uses frequently Elohim, and which was probably written in
the early part of David's reign, appears to have been composed
for the express purpose of helping to abolish such sacrifices,
by substituting for them animal sacrifices, ' redeeming ' them,
in fact, as Isaac is redeemed with a ram. 84 But the writer
expresses no horror whatever at the purpose of Abraham.
On the contrary, he represents the patriarch as having had the
thought suggested to him by God himself, and as concluding
that it was a pious duty to sacrifice ' his son, his only son
Isaac, whom he loved ' ;•* and the lesson which he is taught,
that God will be satisfied with his willingness of mind, his
readiness to give up the dearest treasure of his heart at the
Divine command,* 6 would have been joyfully welcomed, we
may well believe, by many a pious Israelite, who was
4 tempted/ after the example of others round him, to show
his fear of the unseen Deity by making his firstborn son or
daughter to ' pass-over in the fire ' to Yahveh. But the fact
that this writer expresses no condemnation of Abrahams
conduct, but on the contrary commends it, implies that in his
time the custom in question actually existed, and was practised
habitually by pious persons, as it was, we have seen, at a
somewhat earlier period in Jephthah's days. He desires
apparently to check the practice and to encourage that of
'redeeming* the firstborns of men. But he does not
denounce it as utterly impious and abominable ; and it may
be that his own views were not yet sufficiently clear and
decided to enable him to do so. The same might be said of
similar reforms being made in a country where infanticide
now prevails, or the regular practice of human sacrifice, as in
Dahomey or among certain tribes of British India. An
European Christian, going fresh from our lands of light,
would feel and express intense horror and disgust at such

u G.xxii.13. •» G.xxii.2. * G.xxii.12.

122 HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL.

proceedings. But a native reformer, if any such arose, would
not feel this so strongly ; he might object to them and desire
to abolish them, and yet would be able to find some excuse
for them. Inured to such superstitions from his childhood, it
would be difficult for him at first to inveigh severely against
customs, which were so manifestly founded on pious motives,
and the evil of which, brought up in the midst of such
associations, he perhaps only imperfectly realized.

It seems very possible, therefore — nay, rather, highly pro-
bable — that this early law-book really meant to enjoin the
duty of sacrificing human firstborns, male and female, as well
as the firstlings of sheep and oxen, as a token of gratitude
and devotion to Yahveh the Life-giver. And we know that
the custom of offering human sacrifices has prevailed ex-
tensively — far more extensively than is commonly supposed —
not only among the Canaanites and Hebrews, but amongst
almost all ancient nations, civilized and uncivilized, even down
to the birth of Christianity and after it. Pages, indeed, might
be filled with an account of the various forms of human
sacrifices which were practised in older times, and so uni-
versally, that it is difficult to find a people who were wholly
free from this dire superstition. Egyptians, Phoenicians,
Syrians, Arabians, Athenians, Spartans, Etrurians, Romans —
the Hindoo in the East, the Mexican in the West — Thracians
and Syrians, Gauls and Teutons, Saxons and Swedes, Danes
and Pomeranians — all have taken part in the celebration of
these bloody rites. And they were practised down to a com-
paratively late age, and in the midst of the highest civiliza-
tion, as well as among the most barbarous tribes. In fact, as
one has said, ' in every generation of the four centuries, from
the fall of the Republic to the establishment of Christianity,
human victims were sacrificed by the Roman Emperors ' ; 37

" Sir John Acton (quoted by Kaltsch, Ltv.Tzrtl.p.yw.)

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL. 123

while the old Prussians and Goths adhered to the custom for
centuries after their nominal adoption of Christianity. 8 *

Yet among the Hebrews, in a very early age, as we learn
by the story of Abraham's sacrifice, the spirit of some great
prophet was moved by Divine inspiration to raise a first mild
protest against the continuance of this practice of offering
human sacrifices, or at least to point out a ' better way ' of
showing forth that singleness and sincerity of heart which
God, the Living God, desires in his worshippers. And with
some, no doubt, the lesson took effect as time went on ; and
yet it is clear that so late as the days of Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, just before the Captivity, if not even later still, 89 the
practice still prevailed extensively; and king Josiah, in his
great Reformation, in the eighteenth year of his reign, 40
4 defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of
Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to
pass-over in the fire to Molech.' 41 Four centuries, however,
had passed since the time when the story of Abraham's
sacrifice was written ; and during that period there had been
a growth in spiritual things in Israel, and a great advance had
been made in the knowledge of religious and moral truth.
And now the prophets, supported, no doubt, by the better
feeling of many of their contemporaries, denounced the practice
as utterly horrible and detestable. Yet, when Jeremiah
repeats again and again so earnestly, with reference to these
sacrifices of firstborn sons and daughters, the words ' which I
commanded them not nor spake it, neither came it up into
my heart,' 42 he must surely have had in view some passage
such as that of the Original Story of the Exodus, which we
are now considering, and which the people urged as implying
a Divine command for the immolation of their firstborns.
Ezekiel also seems to be referring to a similar direction when

M Kalisch (/.m Parti./. 323-351.) *• Ijnlvii.5. *• 2K.XXU.3.

41 2K.xxiii.10. * 2 Jcr.vii.3i,xix.5,xxxii.35.

124 HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL.

he says, ' Wherefore I also — I gave tketn statutes not good \ and
judgments whereby they should not live, and I defiled them in
their gifts, in their making to pass-over all that openeth the
womb.' 48 And a century previously Micah had taught his
people thus : —

••Wherewithal shall I come before Jehovah,
And bow myself before the High God ?
Shall I come before Him with burnt -offerings,
With calves of a year old ?
Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams,
With ten thousands of rivers of oil ?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good :
And what doth Jehovah require of thee,
But to do justly, and to love mercy,
7.. j^nd to walk humbly with thy God ? ' 44

Alas! we know that, Christianity too has had its human
sacrifices - not only in that cloister-system which immures for
life in monasteries and convents young men and women, who
have hardly yet begun to taste the gift of life, shuts them out
in their prime from the cares and joys and trials of their
family and of their kind, and bars them from all rational
development of their mental powers, and preparation for
those social and domestic duties for which God created them,
a life which has too often been death, or worse than death, for
many of the victims — but also in the frightful ' acts of faith/
as they were called, when human beings, male and female,
frequently some of the best and noblest of our race, were
burnt alive as heretics, for the glory of God and in the name
of the blessed Jesus, the loving, compassionate Son of Man.
And witches, too, have been burnt innumerable in Christian
lands, under the sanction of such laws as that recorded in this
ancient Hebrew law-book, supposed to have a paramount,

a Ez.xx.25,26. « Mic.vi.6-8.

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL. 125

Divine authority. ' Thousands of victims were sometimes
burnt alive in a few years ; and it was not until a considerable
portion of the eighteenth century had passed away that the
executions had finally ceased.' 45 In England, in the time of
Elizabeth, new laws against witchcraft were made, which were
executed with severity ; and the good Bishop JEWELL, 'when
preaching before the Queen, expressed a hope that the
penalties might be still more rigidly enforced.' 46 In the
following reign of James I. ' a law was enacted which subjected
witches to death on the first conviction, even though they
should have inflicted no injury upon their neighbours ; and
twelve Bishops sat upon the Commission to which it was
referred.' 47 Sir Matthew Hale, in sentencing two women
to be hung for witchcraft, took the opportunity of declaring
that the reality of witchcraft was unquestionable, for the
Scriptures had affirmed so much.' 48 Sir Thomas Browne
asserted that ' those who denied the existence of witchcraft
were not only infidels but atheists/ 49 And only about a
century ago (1768) John Wesley declared that 'the giving
up witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible.' 60

To such an extent, but a few generations ago, were the minds
of truly pious men, though living in the full light of the
Gospel of Christ, possessed by this frightful superstition, the
result of prevailing traditionary views respecting the origin
and authority of the Hebrew Scriptures ; yet the Hebrew law
condemns the witch only to die ; it was a refinement of so-
called Christian legislators to burn alive both witches and
heretics. No doubt, it is true that in ' giving up witchcraft '
we do ' give up the Bible,' as a record in every line and letter
of Divine, Infallible Truth. But we restore it to .its true
place — its place Divinely intended — for the education of the

44 Lecky (Rise and Influence of Rationalism in Europe, l.p. 51.) " Ib.p. III.
" T&./.i 14. ' » Ib.p.uo. *• /J./.120. »• Ib.p.ll$.

126 HUMAN SACRIFICES IN ISRAEL.

race. And once more I say, let us bless God devoutly for the
gift of Modern Science, which has not only, swept away these
abominable superstitions, but has enabled us to read the
Bible also with an intelligent faith, and to find in it Divine
utterances, bringing life and health and spiritual strength and
consolation to the soul of man.

LECTURE X.

SUMMARY.

The laws in the Book of the Covenant were not the Ten Commandments ;
the Vision of Jehovah by Moses, Aaron, and the Elders ; Moses in the Mount
for forty days ; what became during this time of Joshua ? Moses receives the
two tables of stone, which he dashes in pieces on seeing the Golden Calf; he
is summoned to come up again, and receives two other tables, inscribed with
the words of the • Book of the Covenant ' or • Testimony ' ; two such stone
tables very probably placed in the Ark in David's time, which by their weight
may have caused the death of Uzzah ; their size compared with the laws to be
engraved on them and the sacrificial table of Marseilles ; the Ten Words in
E.xxxiv.28, shown to be a later interpolation ; the' Deuteronomist, though he
abridged the laws of the Book of the Covenant, would hesitate to cancel
them ; he afterwards wrote the Ten Words, as if these had been engraved on
the tables ; this explains the variations in the two copies of the Decalogue ;
the plain facts to be stated about the Ten Commandments ; they do not include
all Christian duties.

THE LA WS ON THE STONE TABLES.

N the last two Lectures we have been considering
the very ancient code of laws contained in E.xx.
23-xxiii.i9. It is important to notice that it was
this old law-book, with all its quaint prescriptions,
chiefly on agricultural matters, its portentous slave-laws, its
antiquated injunctions, — and not the Ten Commandments, —
which was accepted by the people and recorded by Moses, as
the Law by which they were hereafter to be governed — the
Law as it existed in the Original Story of the Exodus. This
is plain from the following chapter, where we read — 'And
Moses came and told the people all the words of JEHOVAH
and all the judgments ; and all the people answered with one
voice and said, All the words which JEHOVAH hath said will
we do. And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and
arose early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill,
and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
And he sent young men of the children of Israel, who
offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen
unto Jehovah. And Moses took half of the blood and put
it in basons, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
And he took the book of the Covenant and read it in the ears
of the people, and they said, All that JEHOVAH hath said will

K

130 THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES.

we do and be obedient And Moses took the blood and
sprinkled it on the people and said, Behold the blood of the
Covenant which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all
these words.' l

But this is not all. These ' words of the Covenant ' were
not merely to be recorded in the perishable pages of a written
book ; they were to be registered as a lasting deposit for all
future ages, in tables of stone, by the ' Finger of God.' So
we are told that, after ratifying this covenant between
JEHOVAH and his people, ' Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab,
and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel. And they
saw the Elohim of Israel, and under His feet like a work of
transparent sapphire, and as the body of heaven for clearness.
And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He put not
forth His hand ; and they beheld Elohim and they ate and
drank.' * It seems to be meant that they saw some actual
manifestation of the Deity, and yet they still lived on, still
4 ate and drank ' as living men might do ; He ' put not forth
his hand upon them ' to destroy them, as might have been ex-
pected in accordance with the view of those and indeed of far
later times, that no mortal could survive after seeing God's
face 8 or hearing God's word. 4 And, in fact, when afterwards
Moses himself desired to see the 'glory* of God, 5 Jehovah
answers, ' Thou canst not see My face ; for man shall not see
Me and live. But it shall be that, when My glory passeth by
I will place thee in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover My
palm upon thee until I have passed by ; and I will take My
hand away, and thou shalt see My back, but My face shall
not be seen.' 6 We are reminded here of the apostle's words.
' Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, Whom no man hath seen nor can

1 E.xxiv.3-8. * E.xxiv.9-11.

• G.xvi.i3,xxxii.30, E.xxxiii.20, Ju.vi.22,xiii.22, Is.vi.5.

« E.xx.19, D.iv.33,v.26. * E.xxxiii. 18. • E.xxxiii. 20-23.

THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES. 131

see/ 7 and of that central truth of Christianity that in ?jjhe
face of Jesus Christ and of all the good and true of all ages —
in the beauty of holiness revealed in human lives — is revealed
the glory of the Invisible Godhead, the goodness and truth of
the Eternal Father, with Whose spirit they are filled. But
those seventy-three who went up with Moses, can hardly have
been supposed to have seen on this occasion what Moses
alone, at his earnest entreaty, is some time afterwards per-
mitted to see. Perhaps the writer meant that they saw on
the far-off summit of Sinai a fiery splendour, the symbol of
Jehovah's presence, and, underneath it, the clear deep blue
of the sky like a sapphire throne. They were not, in fact,
allowed to go up to the top of the Mount and come nigh to
Jehovah: only Moses was to do this. 8 They 'went up*
merely to its foot, and were not even permitted to enter the
' cloud ' which enveloped the whole Mount — the ' thick dark-
ness where Elohim was,' which Moses entered before 9 and
now again enters with his servant Joshua. 10 For after this
glorious vision, we are told, ' Moses arose and his servant
Joshua, and Moses went up into the Mount of God. And unto
the Elders he said, Stay for us here, until we return unto you ;
and lo ! Aaron and Hur are with you ; whoever has matters
of business, let him draw near unto them. And Moses went
up into the Mount, and Moses was in the Mount forty days
and forty nights.' ll

But where during these forty days was Joshua ? The
careless manner in which this narrative is commonly read
and interpreted, is sufficiently shown by the fact that, whereas
great stress is laid upon the circumstance of Moses having
fasted forty days and nights on this occasion, no notice what-
ever is taken of Joshua his servant having done the same ; '*
nor does the writer himself seem to have considered that, if

T 1Tim.vi.16. ■ Kxxiv.2. • E.xx.21.

>• E.xxiv.15,18. " Eixxiv.13,14,18. " E.xxxii.17.

it 2

132 THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES.

Joshua followed the steps of Moses, he too must have not
only shared in the vision of God, vouchsafed to Moses and
his companions, 13 but must have gone up also to the top of
the Mount, and been present at the Divine communications
made to his master, a privilege denied to Aaron and the
rest, who were still in contact with the people at the foot of
the Mount 14

At the end of those forty days, we read, Jehovah 'gave,
unto Moses, when He had ceased to speak with him on
Mount Sinai, two tables of the Testimony, tables of stone
written with the Finger of Elohim.' l5

Now we shall not be troubled with the question, which has
perplexed an ' orthodox ' Commentator, as to the possibility
of Moses carrying these two tables of stone, as large as the
inside of the Ark in which they were afterwards placed and
proportionally thick, which (he says) ' Moses, without the
strength of a Samson, could not have carried down from the
Mount in one hand or even in both.' ,6 Nay, it is probable
that a pair of stone-tablets of much smaller dimensions, such
as this Commentator himself supposes, 17 viz., each nearly three
feet long and two feet broad and some inches thick, about the
size of an ordinary gravestone, would have taxed the strength
of Moses considerably to carry up to the top of Sinai, as he
afterwards does, 18 as well as down. Nor does it exactly ap-
pear what Joshua was about, the ' minister ' or servant of
Moses, 19 — at least, on the first occasion of Moses coming down
from the Mount, when he is expressly said to have been pre-
sent 20 — that he did not carry* bne at least of these stones.
The Hebrew writer evidently paid little regard to considera-
tions of this kind : he was writing an imaginary, not an
historical, narrative. It is of more consequence to enquire

>» E.xxiv.9-11. u E.xxiv.i4,xxxii.l-6. . » E.xxxi.18.

>• KEiL(CVwi»f.I./.356.) ,T KEiL,/.r. " E.xxxiv.4.

w E.xxiv.13. *° E.xxxii.17.

THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES. 153

what he meant to be inscribed on these stone-tables, which he
calls ' tables of the Testimony, written with the Finger of
Elohim.' And this we shall see more clearly if we advance
a step or two further in the storVi

As Moses, attended by his servant Joshua, was descending
from the Mount with the two tables in his hand, 81 they heard
(we are told) the cries of the people, who were dancing and
shouting around a Golden Calf, 2 * the image of the Sun-God,
which Aaron had made at their request, 18 when, weary of the
long absence of their leader, and not knowing what was be-
come of him, they begged that Aaron would make them an
Elohim to go before them. 24 So Aaron made a molten calf,
' and they said, This is thy Elohim, O Israel, who brought
thee forth out of the land of Egypt ! And Aaron saw it,
and built an altar before it, and Aaron made proclamation and
said, To-morrow is a Feast to JEHOVAH ! ' 25 It is plain that
the writer intends to represent Aaron as identifying the Sun-
God, symbolised by this calf, with JEHOVAH or Yahveh, the
ELOHIM of Israel When Moses, then, drew near to the Camp
and saw the calf and the dancing, we are told that, in horror
and indignation at the sight, he dashed the tables out of his
hands, and brake them in pieces beneath the Mount 26 You
all know the story and will remember how Aaron makes a
pitiful excuse for his conduct, 27 and how the Levites come
forward at the summons of Moses and massacre three thou-
sand of the people, 28 and Moses then intercedes for them, 2 *
and so they are merely plagued, instead of being utterly cut
off for their sin. 30

After this the command is issued to go forward on the
march to the Promised Land, 31 and Moses, before he starts,
desires to see the glory of JEHOVAH, 32 and receives that

21 V.l$.

** v.i 7-19.

*• f.2-4.

M tkl.

* "4,5.

" v. 19.

,7 v.21-24.

** v. 26-28.

*» 7.30-32.

,0 *>. 33-35-

fl E.XXXHKI,2.

■» v. 18/

134 THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES.

promise, ' Thou shalt see My back, but My face shall not be
seen/ 83 Then follows the direction — 'And JEHOVAH said
unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first,
and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the
first tables which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning,
and come up in the morning unto Mount Sinai, and present thy-
self there to Me in the top of the Mount/ 34 And Moses does
this, and climbs the Mount once more with the two stone-
tables in his hand, 35 and there Jehovah proclaims His awful
Name. 38 ' And Moses made haste and bowed his head to the
earth and worshipped/ 37 Then follow nineteen verses 38
which formed no portion of the Original Story, but have been
inserted by the later Deuteronomist ; after which the Original
Story is resumed — 'And he was therewith Jehovah forty
days and forty nights ; bread he ate not, and water he drank
not : and He (Jehovah) wrote upon the tables the words of
the Covenant/ 39

The words, which were written on these tables, are here
called ' the words of the Covenant/ But they were also to be
the very same words which were written on the first tables
which Moses brake, 40 and which were called ' tables of the
Testimony/ 41 What ' Covenant/ then, can this be but that
which Was made so solemnly between Jehovah and Israel,
based upon that ancient law-book, 41 the words of which are
represented as first written in a book by Moses 43 and then
engraved upon the stones by the Finger of God, 41 as a 'Testi-
mony ' or witness of what obedience was due from Israel to
its Divine King ? So, when Joash was crowned in after days,
we are told that they put into his hands the ' Testimony ' 44
—that is, most probably a roll, on which was copied this code
of laws, engraved on the stone-tables which were preserved in

n t>.23»

14 E.xxxiv. 1,2.

M v.4.

" v.$-7>

91 v.S.

M v.9-27.

89 Z/.28.

40 E.xxxiv. 1.

* E,xxxi.i&

" E.xxiv.3-8.

41 *.4,7-

4 « 2K.xi.i2.

THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES. 135

the ark — perhaps the identical roll or book which Samuel
himself wrote for the first king Saul and ' laid up before
Jehovah.' 4 * I repeat, the two tables contained, according
to the Original Story, the ' words of this Covenant ' ; there is
not a shadow of real ground for supposing that they contained,
as is commonly imagined, the Ten Commandments.

It might, perhaps, be thought that the two stone-tables
here described could have hardly contained, in characters
large enough for ordinary purposes, the numerous prescrip-
tions of this ancient code. And it is not enough to say in
reply that this is only an imaginary story, and the two stone-
tables may never have really existed ; because it is possible
that this portion of the narrative may not be altogether im-
aginary, but may be based on a real historical fact. For we
are told in the account of the dedication of Solomon's Temple
that ' the priests brought in the Ark of the Covenant of
JEHOVAH into its place ' 46 and that ' there was nothing in the
Ark save the two tables of stone/ 47 Assuming this to be
historically true, it is most probable that they were first pre-
pared and placed in the Ark on that memorable occasion in
David's reign, when he brought up the Ark to Mount Zion, 48
after it had been long laid aside in the house of Abinadab ; 49
and very possibly their weight may have caused the acci-
dent by which Uzzah died on David's first attempt to bring
up the Ark, when he tried to support the cart in which it was
being carried, at some bad part of the road. 60 But, if the
two tables were engraved in the early part of David's reign,
they would probably contain — not the Ten Commandments,
which are the work of the Deuteronomist, and were written,
as we shall see, in a much later age, but — a transcript of the
' manner of the kingdom,' which Samuel 'wrote in a book ' in
the days of Saul, and which was, perhaps almost identical with

<* iS.x.25. 4 * iK.viii.6. « T v. 9.

*■ 2S.vi.2,3. " iS.vii.i,2< •• aS.vi.6,7,

136 THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES.

the ' Book of the Covenant ' in E.xx.22-xxiii.2i. It becomes
important, therefore, to consider within what space this sec-
tion/containing about 1,100 Hebrew words, could be legibly
inscribed. Now at Marseilles there was found not long ago
a stone-tablet of great antiquity, inscribed with Phoenician
characters, which were almost identical with the ancient
Hebrew ; the whole surface of this stone contained \\ sq. ft. ;
and on this were engraved distinctly for public uses 94 words. 81
But the stone-tables of Sinai, if their size may be conjectured
from the dimensions given for the Ark, 52 would be nearly
3 ft long and 2 ft broad, 17 and would have had on their four
faces an area of about 24 sq. ft., large enough to have held
1,500 such words, and so might have very well contained the
code in question, the ' words of the Covenant/

It is true, we now read in our Bibles, 'And He wrote upon
the tables the words of the Covenant, the Ten Command-
ments? M or rather, as it should be rendered, ' the Ten Words.'
But this last expression, ' the Ten Words/ is plainly a later
addition to the original passage, which stands complete with-
out it — ' He wrote upon the tables the words of the Covenant/
There are some who suppose that the ' Ten Words ' here
meant are ten separate commands which they find in the
nineteen verses just preceding, and which end, in fact, with the
direction, 'And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Write thou these
words; for after the tenor of these words I have made a
Covenant with thee and with Israel.' 64 But it would be easy
to find more than ten commands in these verses. And these
nineteen verses have been, as I have said, inserted by a later
hand, that of the Deuteronomist ; and it is easy to see the
object with which the insertion has been made. In my next
Lecture I shall show that the Deuteronomist was a prophet
of a very much later age, the age of Josiah. Let us assume

11 Movers {Op/, d: Karth.) n E.xxv.io,xxxvii.i.

M E.xxxiv.28. »« E.xxxiv.9-27.

THE LAWS, ON THE STONE TABLES. 137

this for the present, and suppose that such a prophet had
before him in the Original Story of the Exodus the series of
laws which we have been considering in E.xxi-xxiii. He
would find very many of them antiquated and inapplicable in
the present more advanced state of his nation ; and with his
own higher and more spiritual views they would have seemed
to him very unfit to be made in this form the basis of the
Covenant between Jehovah and Israel. Accordingly, he
extracted from them those injunctions which he deemed most
important to be maintained in the future ; and, upon carefully
comparing these nineteen verses with the more ancient code,
it will be seen that almost all the laws contained in them have
been simply copied from the older record, 66 sometimes in the
very same words and in the very same order. Of course, it
is incredible that the same writer, after describing the solemn
ratification of a Covenant between Jehovah and Israel upon
the basis of certain 'words' expressly revealed by Jehovah
to Moses, would immediately go on to describe a second
Covenant based upon a different set of words, as having
been made between Jehovah and Israel within only a few
weeks of the first. But the Deuteronomist, having merely con-
densed the original code, by omitting the civil laws, many of
which had in his time become obsolete, and retaining only the
commands more expressly connected with religion, is thus
able to say at the end, ' After the tenor of these words I have
made a Covenant with thee and with Israel/ 66 without doing
any great violence to the Original Story, since ' these words '
may be regarded as an abstract or summary of those upon
which the Covenant was really based. Very probably he in-
tended to suppress the older passages 57 and to replace them
by his own more condensed matter. But it is easy to under-
stand that it would cost him a much greater pang, if he lived

** *'. 19, 20a = E.xiii. 12,13, which also belongs to D., and v. 24 is added.
M E.xxxiv.27. iT E.xx.22-xxiii.33,xxiv.3-8.

138 THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES.

some centuries after the older writer, actually to cancel a
portion of his work however antiquated, than if he had lived
only in the next age, and had been perhaps his disciple and
a sharer in his plan and in his labour. He may have composed
his own abstract and, as he considered, improvement of the
original, with a view to supersede it, and yet may have hesi-
tated to remove and destroy the alder and now venerable
record.

But he was not content, it would seem, with this. These
laws, even in their reduced form, are occupied chiefly with
matters of outward rite and ceremorty — the keeping of festi-
vals, the sacrificing of firstlings, the redemption of firstborns.
And such laws as these, however proper in themselves,
did not touch the more important questions of public and
private life — did not provide solemn warnings against murder,
adultery, and theft. Accordingly the Deuteronomist com-
posed the Ten Commandments — marked clearly as his by
his own peculiar style ft8 — the germs of which may in most
cases be found indeed in the older code, but in a less im-
pressive form and mixed up with a mass of miscellaneous
ordinances. And these he has inserted in the Book of Exodus,
as we saw in a former Lecture, 59 in a place where they could
not possibly have existed in the Original Story, as having
been pronounced aloud by the Divine Voice on Sinai. To
these 'Ten Commandments/ no doubt, the reference was
meant to be made by the phrase * the Ten Words/ which
some one — perhaps the Deuteronomist himself or a later
writer — has added to the original passage in the place which
we have just been considering, 60 so conveying the idea that
these were engraved on the stone-tables as the ' Words of the
Covenant ' which Jehovah had made with Israel. But the
copy of these Ten Words, as given in Deuteronomy itself,

•■ See Pent.Vl.App.i07. * Lsct.Xlll. •• E.xxxiv.28.

THE LAWS ON THE STONE TABLES. 139

(as the New Bible Commentary admits, 61 ) differs considerably
in some respects from that in the Book of Exodus — a fact
which is utterly inconceivable if the Decalogue, as first given
in Exodus, was regarded as the record of the actual utter-
ances of the Divine Lawgiver, but is easily intelligible if the
same later writer was the author of both versions, and took
the opportunity in his later work of altering and amending
his own earlier form.

It is natural that many who may have noticed this striking
difference in the two versions of the Decalogue, should shrink
from examining very closely into a matter which interferes so
seriously with long-established traditionary views, or, if they
do, from speaking of what they find. But how right and
good would it be if the truth were openly taught in the pulpit
as well as in the school, that in these Commandments we
have only embodied the main points of human duty towards
God and Man, as they were conceived in the mind of a pious
Jewish writer in the seventh century before Christ. But then
we must remember that there are also other points of
Christian duty for which these ' Ten Words ' have not pro-
vided, unless some strange and unnatural interpretation be
put upon them — as, for instance, the duty of abstaining from
lying and drunkenness, the duty of ' doing justly ' and ' loving
mercy ' as well as of ' walking humbly with God/ the duty
of self-sacrifice, of laying down one's life, or what makes
life sweet, for the brethren, all which the Master has summed
up for us in the duty of ' loving God and Man.'

LECTURE XL

SUMMARY.

The reign of the good king Josiah ; the high-priest Hilkiah probably
Jeremiah's father ; the discovery, and private and public reading, of the Book
of the Law ; the Covenant made in consequence, and the Reformation of
Religion throughout Judah and Israel ; the prophetess Huldah consulted on
this occasion, not Jeremiah, who never mentions this Book of the Law ; her
language is identical with Jeremiah's, but strongly resembles that of Deu-
teronomy, as also does Jeremiah's language in his prophecies and in the Books
of Kings ; Jeremiah himself the writer of Deuteronomy, a portion of which
was the Book found in the Temple ; Jeremiah has retouched the Original
Story throughout ; circumstances which probably led to his writing Deute-
ronomy ; what is true in the Bible is true in itself, not because it is found in
the Bible.

THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.

£N the year 624 B.C. there was a great commotion in
Jerusalem. It was the eighteenth year of king
Josiah, 1 who was only eight years old when he
# began to reign, 2 and was therefore naturally from
the first greatly under the influence of the high-priest and
leading prophets of that time, and seems to have been a
thoroughly well-disposed and pious prince, so that the character
given of him in the Book of Kings is this — ' He did the right
in the sight of JEHOVAH, and walked in all the ways of David
his father, and turned not aside to the right-hand or to the
left' 3 Jeremiah began to prophesy in the thirteenth year of
Josiah ; 4 and he had therefore been in full activity as a
prophet for four or five years, when the events occurred to
which I am now referring. The high-priest at the time in
question was Hilkiah, 5 and, as Jeremiah is described as the
son of Hilkiah, 6 it is very possible that he was the son of
this very same Hilkiah the high-priest It is true Jeremiah's
father is not distinctly called the hig A-priest ; but then the high-
priest Hilkiah is repeatedly styled simply 'the priest* in this
very narrative which we are now considering, 7 composed pro-

1 2K.XXH.3, &c. * v.i. * v.2. * Jer.i.2,xxv.3.

* 2K.XXH.4. • Jer.i.i. T 2K.xxii.io,i2,i4,xxiii.24.

144 THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.

bably by Jeremiah himself, who is generally believed to have
been the writer of the two Books of Kings ; 8 and in those
days the high-priest, though, no doubt, a more important
person under Josiah than he was in former times, 9 seems to
have had little of the grandeur and pre-eminent dignity which
was attached to the office in a later age.

On a certain day, then, in this eighteenth year of King
Josiah, the king sent his secretary Shaphan with a message to
Hilkiah the high-priest in the Temple. ' And Hilkiah the
high-priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the
Book of the Law in the House of JEHOVAH. And Hilkiah
gave the Book to Shaphan and he read it.' So, when Shaphan
returned to the king, he * shewed the king saying, Hilkiah the
priest hath given me a Book. And Shaphan read it before the
king. And, when the king had heard the words of the Book
of the Law, he rent his clothes. And the king Qommanded
Hilkiah the priest/ and four others, ' saying, Go ye, enquire
of Jehovah for me and for the people and for all Judah,
concerning the words of this book that is found ; for great is
the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us because our
fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this Book.' So
they went to ' Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum,
and they communed with her ; and she said unto them, Tell
ye the man who sent you unto me, Thus saith Jehovah,
Behold ! I am bringing evil on this place and on its inhabi-
tants, even all the words of the Book which the King of Judah
hath read. Because they have forsaken Me and have sacri-
ficed unto other gods, that they might provoke Me with all
the works of their hands, therefore My wrath shall be kindled
against this place and shall not be quenched. ... So they
brought the king word again. 10 And the king sent and they
gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem.

• Bp. Lord Hervey, Dkt. of the BtdU t ll.p.2%.

• comp. lK.iv.2-4, 2K.xix.2. ,0 2K.xxii.3-20.

THE BOOK FOUND IS THE TEMPLE. 145

And the king wertt up into the House of JEHOVAH, and all
the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with
him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both
small and great ; and he read in their ears all the words of
the Book of the Covenant which was found in the House of
Jehovah. And the king stood by the pillar and made a
Covenant before Jehovah ... to perform the words of this
Covenant that were written in this Book ; and all the people
stood to the Covenant/ ll

And now Josiah takes in hand a most energetic and
sweeping Reformation. He begins at Jerusalem, and orders
Hilkiah to remove from the Temple— observe, from the
Temple itself where Hilkiah was in authority as high-priest,
and ought not to have allowed such abominations — 'the
vessels made for the Baal and for the Ashera and for all the
host of heaven/ and he burns them without Jerusalem and
scatters their ashes. 12 He puts-down the idolatrous priests,
who had sacrificed in the cities of Judah, and in the high-
places roundabout Jerusalem, ' to the Sun and to the Moon
and to the Twelve Signs and to all the host of heaven/ 18 He
brings forth the Ashera — an obscene symbol of Sun-worship
— from the House of Jehovah, and burns it, and stamps it
small to powder, and casts the powder upon the graves of the
people. 14 He breaks-down the houses, by the House of
Jehovah, where foul impurities were practised in honour of
the Sun-God. 15 He defiles the idolatrous high-places through-
out the whole land of Judah, as well as those within the walls
of the city, and brings their priests to Jerusalem, degrading
them into a sort of lower priesthood. 16 He defiles the
Topheth in the valley of Hinnom, close to Jerusalem, where
up to that time the people had slain and sacrificed their
firstborn children to Molech 'the king/ in other words, to

11 2K.xxiii.l-3. » 2K.xxiii.4- » v. 5.

L

146 THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.

Yahveh, the Sun-God. 17 He removes the 'horses of the
Sun ' and burns the * chariots of the Sun/ which the kings of
Judah had placed at the entrance of the Temple, and demolishes
the idolatrous altars which Manasseh had built in the two
courts of the Temple. 18 He defiles the high-places which
Solomon had made on the right of the Mount of Olives for
Ashtoreth and Chemosh and Milcom or Molech. 19 And
then,. beyond the boundaries of Judah, he carries the Refor-
mation into the land of Samaria, whose Israelitish inhabitants
had mostly been carried captive into Assyria about a century
previously, 40 their places having been filled by foreigners, 21 and
over which district Josiah seems to have exercised authority,
perhaps as a vassal or ally of the Assyrian king. 23 Here he
destroys the ancient altar and high-place which Jeroboam
had made at Bethel, 28 when the Ten Tribes separated from
Judah, 24 and destroys the ' houses ' or chapels of the high-
places in the cities of Samaria, and slays ruthlessly the priests
beside their altars, ' and he burned men's bones upon them
and returned to Jerusalem/ 25 ' And the king commanded all
the people saying, Keep the Passover unto JEHOVAH your
Elohim, as it is written in the Book of the Covenant. Surely
there was not holden such a Passover from the days of the
Judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of
Israel nor of the kings of Judah. Moreover, the familiar
spirits and the wizards and the teraphim and the idols and all
the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in
Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the
words of the Law which were written in the Book that
Hilkiah the priest found in the House of Jehovah.' 26

Such is Jeremiah's account in the Book of Kings of the
Great Reformation carried out by Josiah in the eighteenth

17 Z/.IO. '» V.I 1, 12.

19 v.13,14.

«* 2K.xvii.6.

«» v.24. ** comp. 2K.xxiii.29.

w v.i$.

u 1K.xii.29.

,s 2K.xxiii.i9,20,

" 2K.xxiii.2i-24.

THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE. 147

year of his reign. From the full details which he gives t>f
these proceedings it is plain that he took a very deep interest
in them. And the question must naturally arise, Where was
Jeremiah himself all the while ? In five years he had been
known as a prophet in Jerusalem. And yet the deputation,
sent by the king to 'enquire of JEHOVAH,' go and consult —
not Jeremiah, but — a woman, 'the prophetess Huldah, the
wife of Shallum,' perhaps Jeremiah's aunt, since Shallum was
the name of his uncle. 97 It is strange that Jeremiah himself
was not consulted on this occasion, if present at the time in
Jerusalem ; or, if he lived at Anathoth his native place, 28 where
his family possessed some property, 29 it was only about an
hour's distance, and the report of the great event would soon
have reached him, and would have brought him at once, we
may be sure, to the City. He was present, at all events, we
must suppose, among the ' priests and prophets/ in whose ears
Josiah read the contents of the Book, 30 perhaps on the day
after the discovery ; and assuredly, as I have said, he must
have been not only aware of that event, but intensely con-
cerned in it, and in the measures which followed it. How is
it, then, that in the whole of Jeremiah's very copious prophecies
this ' Book of the Law,' this ' Book of the Covenant,' is never
once mentioned, although he does apparently refer to the
Covenant made by Josiah, 31 as also to the Covenant made
by Moses as recorded in this Book of Deuteronomy, 32 and
although he certainly knew the Book well, inasmuch as more
than once he quotes the identical words of it ? 33 How is it
also that the prophecy of Huldah, when carefully examined,
betrays in its language a very close resemblance not only to
Jeremiah's prophecies, but to the Book of Deuteronomy, 34

27 Jer.xxxii.7. M Jer.i.i. w Jer.xxxii.7,8. w 2K.xxiii.2.

81 Jer.iii.io,xi.i-6,xxiv.i5,i8,i9. n Jer.xxxiv.13,14, comp.D.w.12.

n eomp.TLxxxy. i4withD.xv. 12 — vii.23with D.v.33 — vii.33,xvi.4,xxxiv.20, with
D.xxviii.26 — xi.4 with D.iv.20 — xxii.8,9 with xxix. 24-26, &c.
" Sec Pent. III. 574. v.

L 2

1 43 THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.

supposed to have been lost, and only then, to the astonishment
of all, accidentally found in the Temple, so that its contents
would have been utterly unknown to her ? How is it above
all that Jeremiah's language throughout his prophecies and
throughout the two Books of Kings agrees in a most singular
manner with that of Deuteronomy? Thus the New Com-
mentary says— 'The writings of Jeremiah often strikingly
recall passages of Deuteronomy. • The prophet repeatedly
employs words and phrases which are characteristic of
Deuteronomy, and there is also at times a remarkable
similarity of general style and treatment. These resem-
blances are neither few nor insignificant. It is needless in
this place to demonstrate their existence and importance,
which are now admitted on all hands/ 85 And then the writer
tries to account for this similarity by supposing that the
prophet had so closely studied — not the whole Pentateuch,
but — this particular Book of the Pentateuch, that he had
become thoroughly imbued with its spirit and had made its
very language his own.

Rather, the true explanation of the matter is simply this,
that Jeremiah himself wrote the prophecy which he has put
into the mouth of Huldah, and wrote also the Book of
Deuteronomy, and that this, or some portion of it, was the
* Book of the Law ' or ' Book of the Covenant/ which was
found by Hilkiah in the Temple, having been placed there
with the knowledge and connivance of Hilkiah, and probably
also with that of Huldah, to be found at this time. It cannot
be supposed that Josiah ' read in the ears of the people ' all
the stories in Genesis, all the minute details about the Ark
and Tabernacle in Exodus, all the ritualistic prescriptions in
Leviticus and Numbers, the numberings of the Camps 36 and
the list of the marchings and stations in the wilderness 37 — that

" /?.C.I./.794. ** N.i.-iv. 8T N.xxxiii.

THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE. 149

these would have produced such a mighty effect upon the
king and people, or that all this could have been read at one
time. It was evidently the Book of Deuteronomy which was
found in the Temple, to which Huldah's words refer, ' I will
bring evil upon this place and upon the inhabitants thereof,
all the words of the Book which the king of Judah hath
read/ 38 and which is called repeatedly the * Book of the Law '
in Deuteronomy itself f* or rather it was the original part of
this Book, the part of it which was first written, viz., Ch.v-
xxviii, except ch.xxvii, which a glance will show to have been
inserted afterwards, since it breaks the connexion where it
now stands. This portion consists of a long address of
Moses, beginning with the Ten Commandments, which vary
here considerably, as we have seen, 40 from those in E.xx, and
ending with an awful denunciation of Divine Judgment, the
closing words of which may well have rung long in Josiah's
ears — ' If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this Law
that are written in this Book . . . then Jehovah will make
thy plagues wonderful and the plagues of thy seed, even great
plagues of long continuance, and sore sicknesses and of long
continuance. . . . Also every sickness and every plague which
is not written in the Book of this Law, them will JEHOVAH
bring upon thee until thou be destroyed. . . . And JEHOVAH
shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the
earth even unto the other. . . . And among these nations
shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have
rest; but JEHOVAH shall give thee a trembling heart and
failing of eyes and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang
in doubt before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and
thou shalt have none assurance of thy life. In the morning
thou shalt say, Would God it were even ! and at even thou
shalt say, Would God it were morning ! for the fear of thine

*• 2K.xxii.16, com/. D.xxix.27. M D.xxviii.6i,xxix.2i,xxx.io,xxxi.26.

150 THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEAfPLE.

heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine
eyes which thou shalt see. And Jehovah shall bring thee
into Egypt again with ships by the way whereof I spake unto
thee, Thou shalt see it no more again ; and there ye shall be
sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no
man shall buy you.' 41

After this it is added, 'These are the words of the
Covenant, which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with
the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the Covenant
which He made with them in Horeb.' 42 You will remember
that older Covenant supposed to have been made at Sinai or
Horeb, as the Deuteronomist always calls it, 43 based upon a
number of ordinances recorded in E.xxi-xxiii, respecting
agricultural and other matters, of which many were totally
unsuited to a more advanced stage of civilized life, 44 and how
(as I explained in my last Lecture 45 ) the Deuteronomist —
Jeremiah, as we have now seen reason to conclude — first
abridged these, retaining only the more important laws
relating to religion, and represented this abridgment or
summary, which in fact contained the substance of the
original code, as the basis of that Covenant, * Write thou
these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a
Covenant with thee and with Israel/ and how, not content
with this, he further composed the 'Ten Words' of the
Decalogue, as more fully and forcibly expressing the basis of
such a Covenant as JEHOVAH might be supposed to have
made with Israel, and inserted these in E.xx as having been
uttered with a loud voice on Sinai, amidst thunderings and
lightnings, in the ears of all the people, and as having been
engraved on the two Tables of Stone. 46 But, further, it
appears upon a close examination that he has retouched also

41 D.xxviii. 15-68. « D.xxix.i.

41 IXi.2,6,i9,iv.io,i5,v.2,ix.8,xviii.i6,xxix.i. u />. 106, 115, 116.

THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE. 151

the Original Story as it had come into his hands, inserting
shorter 47 or longer 48 passages, which breathe his own prophetical
spirit and exhibit unmistakeably his well-known style. But
even this, it seems, did not satisfy him. The work in its
present form was not likely to make any strong impression
upon a people so sunk in gross idolatries as the people of
Judah and Jerusalem in his time. You have heard the long
list of abominations practised even in the Temple itself during
the first seventeen years of the pious king Josiah, surrounded
by priests and prophets, and advised by the high-priest
Hilkiah and for five years past by Jeremiah himself. The
prophet saw that something more was needed to rouse the
king and people from their deadly lethargy ; he felt that even
his own stirring words, introduced here and there into the
Original Story, were too much overlaid by historical and
other matter to answer the needs of the present time. He
must discharge the solemn duty to which he knew God's
Spirit had called him, of warning his people of their doom if
they persisted in their wickedness. But he was young at the
time when the call had reached him and he felt his spirit first
stirred for this work ; and in the sense of his weakness and
inexperience he cried, ' Ah Lord God ! behold ! I cannot
speak, for I am a mere youth.' 49 What wonder is it that,
even when reassured by promises of Divine support, he shrank
from facing the angry crowd, and feared that rebukes, poured
out from his lips against the idolatrous practices of the age,
encouraged by priests and prophets 50 and even permitted by
the king, would fall unheeded and be spoken to the winds ?
Perhaps he had found this already by experience to be true ;
and so he resolves to speak to them in the name of Moses —

47 G.vi.4,x.8-I2, xviii. 18,19, xxii. 14-18, xxiv.59,6o,xxvi.4,5, xxviii. 15,20-22,
xxxi.i3,xxxv.2-4,E.iii.i, 'to Horeb/xv.25b,26,xvii.6, 'in Horeb,' I4,xix.3b-
8,9b,xxiii. 13, I5bc,i9,xxiv. i2,xxiii.7-i4,34,xxxiii.3-6.

48 G.xv, E.xiii.3-i6,xx.i-i7 ; xxiii.22-33,xxxiv.9-27. ** Jcr.i.6.
40 Jcr.i. i8,ii.8,26,v.3i,vi. I3,viii. i,2,&c.

r52 THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE.

to embody his own earnest lessons and warnings in the form
of a last discourse, supposed to have been delivered by the
great lawgiver to his people immediately before his death,
including the Ten Commandments and such laws of the older
Covenant as still seemed suited for his people, and making the
whole the basis of a second Covenant made by Jehovah with
Israel at the end of the wanderings, as the former was made
at the beginning of them. 61

This, then, in all probability was the ' Book of the Law '
or ' Book of the Covenant ' which was found by Hilkiah in the
Temple, and the reading of which produced such a mighty
effect at the time in Jerusalem. In my next Lecture I shall
return to this subject For the present I will only ask, Are
such words as these, * Man doth not live by bread alone, but
by all that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth
man live ' 62 — are such words as these less true because they
occur in Deuteronomy, and were written by a later prophet,
not by Moses ? Are they not rather true in themselves, by
whomsoever spoken or written, and as such come home at
once with power to the hearts and consciences of men ?
' Truly the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes
to behold the Sun/ M But is the light sweet to our eyes only
because this statement is found in the Bible? Is. not the
light sweet because our gracious God and Father has made
the Sun and given us our visual powers, that we may open
our eyes, and we shall behold the glory and beauty of the
Universe ? And is the light of Truth sweet to us only because
we find the bright reflexion of it in the Bible ? Rather> we
rejoice to know that God's Truth exists for us eternally,
shining like th£ Sun in the spiritual heavens, and that we,
His children, have spiritual senses wherewith to behold it
—a spiritual eyesight, to which this light of the inner man is

" D.xxix.1. M D.viii.3. M Ecc.xi.7.

THE BOOK FOUND IN THE TEMPLE. 153

sweet, by which we can enjoy its brightness, — a spiritual
hearing, by which we can hear and receive Divine Truth,
wherever and by whomsoever spoken to us, whether in the
Bible or out of the Bible, whether in the Church of Christ or
out of it — a spiritual appetite, by which we can * taste the
good word of God and the powers of the world to come/ M by
which we can feed upon the living bread — can 'eat the
flesh ' and ' drink the blood ' of Christ's Divine Teaching M
and live.

M Heb.vi.5. ** John vi. 53-63.

LECTURE XII.

SUMMARY.

The Book of Deuteronomy the main cause of Moses being regarded as a
great lawgiver; it breathes the true prophetical spirit ; ch.i-iv,xxix,xxx, added
after the Captivity, and ch.xxvii also inserted into the original address of
Moses ; the Book found in the Temple not the autograph of Moses ; such
impersonations often employed for pious ends by Christian and Jewish writers,
as in the Books of Enoch, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Chronicles ;
Jeremiah in the Books of Kings records fictitious prophecies and other utter-
ances ; such fictions no more dishonest than similar instances in Thucydides
or Tacitus ; the effect of reading the book in Josiah's time may have been
greater than was anticipated ; the real facts perhaps afterwards disclosed to
the King ; the Deuteronomist orders the three great feasts to be kept at
Jerusalem ; this would have been impracticable in the days of David and
Solomon, but points to the diminished kingdom under Josiah ; the hope of
Jeremiah in writing Deuteronomy painfully frustrated ; the lesson for our
own times.

JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST.

JN my last Lecture I set before you what appears to
be the true account of the origin of the Book of
Deuteronomy. Of course, traditionary theo-
logians find it very difficult to allow this, since
out of the whole Pentateuch it is Deuteronomy which really
attracts most forcibly the reader's attention, and has helped
mainly to establish the reputation of Moses as a great law-
giver. The legislation in the other books, except a few
passages inserted by the Deuteronomist himself, is com-
paratively dry and uninteresting, and has no prophetical ring
about it Two-thirds of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers are
almost wholly occupied with prescriptions about the different
kinds of sacrifices, the duties and prerogatives of the Priests
and Levites, the ceremonies of purification, the construction
of the Tabernacle and its vessels. Even the code of laws
on which the Covenant is based in the Original Story, in
E.xxi-xxiii, has hardly been much studied, I imagine, by the
majority of Christians. On the other hand, almost every line
of Deuteronomy breathes the true prophetical spirit, and is
'profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for in-
struction in righteousness/ l In the last four chapters, indeed,

1 2Tim.iiLi6.

158 JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST.

there are still retained one or two fragments of the Original
Story, 2 as well as some insertions of a very late date, 3 of
which I shall have to speak hereafter, mixed up with words
of the Deuteronomist, to whom especially we owe the grand
' Song of Moses ' in D.xxxii, whereas the ' Blessing of Moses '
in D.xxxiii belongs apparently to the same age, but not to
the same hand. But the first thirty chapters, with the ex-
ception of two verses, 4 are wholly Jeremiah's, four chapters
having been subsequently prefixed by him by way of intro-
duction, and two appended, to the book as found in the
Temple, besides ch.xxvii, inserted awkwardly, as we have
seen, 5 in the place where it now stands. These introductory
and concluding chapters must have been added at least twenty-
five years afterwards, when the woes of the Babylonish Cap-
tivity had at last overwhelmed the land ; as appears from the
fact that, whereas in the original address of Moses there is
only a threatening of the misery which would assuredly befall
his countrymen if they continued in their impenitence, 6 these
additional chapters refer distinctly to that calamity as having
already fallen upon Judah. ' When all these things are come
upon thee . . . and thou shalt recall them to thine heart among
all the nations whither JEHOVAH thy Elohim hath driven thee,
and shalt return unto Jehovah thy Elohim . . . with all thine
heart and with all thy soul, then JEHOVAH thy Elohim will
bring back thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and
will return and gather thee from all the nations whither
JEHOVAH thy Elohim hath scattered thee/ 7 These words
were probably written after the beginning of the Captivity,
when Josiah's grandson, Jehoiachin or Jechoniah, was carried
away to Babylon, with all the nobles, warriors, and craftsmen, so
that * none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the

« D.xxxi.i4,i5,23,xxxiv.5,6,io.

1 D.xxxi.i6,22,xxxii.44,48-52,xxxiv. 1-4,7-9. * D.x.6,7.

* /• 149- * D- xxviii. 1 5-68. f D. xxx. 1 -3, comp. iv. 29-3 1 .

JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST. 159

land,' 8 — eleven years after which event the rebellion of his
uncle Zedekiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made king in his
room, brought about the final catastrophe, 9 in which all the rest
of the people were carried captive and Jerusalem was burnt to
the ground. 10 It is the main address of Moses, therefore, in
D.v-xxvi,xxviii, which is, strictly speaking, the ' Book of the
Law/ the ' Book of the Covenant/ on the basis of which the
second Covenant was supposed to have been made between
Jehovah and Israel. 11 And it is this which is blindly re-
ceived as the work of Moses — if (as one has said 12 ) ' that
which is little better than passivity can be called receiving '
— received merely because ' presented by tradition, or asser-
tion, or authority/ in that state of ' dull, lifeless, irreceptive
torpor, in which the intellect has been hitherto entranced ' —
and has won for Moses mainly the reputation. of a lawgiver.
There are some, indeed, who would still keep the intellect
drugged with sophistries, and drowned in that ' dull, lifeless
torpor/ so forcibly described, under the influence of traditionary
teaching. And even the New Commentary leans to the view
that the book found by Hilkiah was 4 the original copy of the
Pentateuch deposited by order of Moses ; ' 13 while a living
prelate of our Church has written, ' Though the copy cannot
be proved to have been Moses* autograph, it seems probable
that it was from the place where it was found, viz. in the
Temple, and from its not having been discovered before, but
being only brought to light on the occasion of the repairs
which were necessary ; and from the discoverer being the
high-priest himself it seems natural to conclude that the par-
ticular part of the Temple where it was found was one not
usually frequented, or ever, by any but the high-priest Such
a place exactly was the one where we know the original copy

• 2K.xxiv. 10-16. • 2K.xxiv. 17-20. ,0 2K.xxv.8-21.

11 D.xxix.i. " Bp. Wilberforce {Guardian, Oct. 26, 1870.)

11 A C.I./. 794.

160 JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST.

of the Law was deposited by command of Moses.' u We
' know' this, says the writer, because the order is given in this
very Book of Deuteronomy to put it ' by the side of the ark ' 16
— as if this could not have been part of the plan pre-arranged
by Jeremiah himself and his friends, that it should be placed
there, where of course it was found ! But how is it that, if it
lay all along where Moses ordered it to be placed, not in the
ark but 'by the side' of it, it was never seen by Hilkiah or
any other high-priest during the first seventeen years of
Josiah's reign ? And how is it that when the ark was brought
up to David's Tent, and afterwards removed to Solomon's
Temple, no mention is made of this venerable ' Book of the
Law/ the very * autograph of Moses,' though placed each time
(it is supposed) ' by the side of the ark ' ?

Yet some one perhaps will say, How can we ascribe such a
proceeding as that here supposed to good men, such as Hilkiah
and Jeremiah, or believe that they can ever have sanctioned,
much less contrived, such a * pious fraud ' ? In the first place,
we must not judge of those times by the higher morality of
our own, enlightened, as we have been, by eighteen centuries
of Christian teaching ; though we know that even in the
Christian Church ' pious frauds ' have been not uncommon —
that Gospels and Epistles and other works innumerable have
been ascribed to apostles and others who never wrote them,
and that a prophecy is actually quoted in the canonical
epistle ascribed to St. Jude, as having been really uttered by
' Enoch the seventh from Adam.' 16 In the Jewish Church,
however, such impersonations were often employed for pior.s
ends. We have, for instance, the prophecies ascribed to
Daniel, which were written in the time of the Maccabees,
B.C. 165, to comfort the godly Jews under the tyrannical oppres-
sions of the Greek Prince, Antiochus Epiphanes, and strengthen

" Bp. Lord Hervey (Diet, of the Bible,\.f>.%\4). li D.xxxi.9,26.

»• Jude 14, 15.

JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST. 161

them to resist the fiery temptations to which they were
exposed from the heathen influences around them, represented
under a figure by Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius.
In the Books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, we have
numerous fictitious speeches and prophecies, royal decrees
and letters — for instance, a letter from the prophet Elijah to
king Joram seven years at least after Elijah (according to
the story) was taken up into heaven ; 17 and accordingly the
English Bible tells us in the margin that it was ' writ before
Elijah's death/ or rather, it should have said, 'before his
translation/ Again, the Books of Kings, composed by
Jeremiah himself, contain utterances by various prophets,
Ahijah, 18 Shemaiah, 19 Jehu, 90 the prophetess Huldah, 21 which
are all written in Jeremiah's own style. The prophets in
question may, no doubt, have delivered solemn warnings on
the occasions referred to ; but, if so, no record of their words
was kept; the historian has put into their mouth his own
language, embodying the thoughts with which, as he con-
ceived, their minds would most probably be filled at such
times. So the long prayer of Solomon at the dedication of
the Temple 22 and his previous words * are entirely Jeremiah's.
And in like manner in the Book of Deuteronomy the writer
puts his own words into the mouth of Moses, ascribing to him
such feelings as he might naturally be supposed to have when
taking leave of his people — doing here, in fact, what the
writer of the Original Story had done before him, in com-
posing the ' Blessing of Jacob ' 24 or the ' Song of Moses ' M
or the 'prophecies of Balaam/ 26 and no more than the
greatest writers of all ages have done without being charged
with bad faith or dishonesty, as when Thucydides ascribes a
grand funeral oration to the great Athenian statesman

17 2Ch.xxi. 12-15. " iK.xi.3i-39,xiv.6-i6. >• iK.xii.22-24.

*• 1K.xvi.i-4. « 2K.XXH.15-20. » iK.viii. 23-61.

u G.xlix.1^27. » E.xv.1-18. « N.xxiii,xxiv.
M

162 JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST.

Pericles, 27 or when Tacitus records a long address, as spoken
by the Highland Chieftain Galgacus — who spoke, of course,
if he spoke at all, in Gaelic to his own warriors — before the
decisive battle with the Roman invaders. 28

Moreover, the effect of reading this ' Book of the Law/ may
have been far greater than had even been anticipated, and
may have taken by surprise Jeremiah himself and the other
parties to the design. Their intention was probably merely
to produce this new work, a prophecy in disguise, in the hope
that it might startle the drowsy king and people, . and
strengthen the hands of those who were labouring in the same
spirit with Jeremiah himself to reform the state of religion in
Judah. At the moment of the discovery Jeremiah seems
very naturally to have kept himself out of the way, and to
have subsequently taken no prominent part in the proceedings.
Perhaps in the first hours of excitement it was felt to be
difficult or undesirable to say or do anything which might act
as a check upon the zeal and energy exhibited by the king,
and in which, as it seems, he was supported by the people, in
putting down by force the gross idolatries which polluted the
land. That impulsive effort, which followed immediately
upon the reading of the book, would most probably have been
arrested, if he had been told at once the true origin of those
awful words which had made so strong an impression on him.
They were not less awful, it is true, because uttered in the
name of Moses by such a prophet as Jeremiah. But their
effect would bp infinitely greater, we may be sure, if they
were regarded as the dying instructions and warnings of
Moses himself, than if they had been heard as the denun-
ciations of a youthful prophet actually living in their midst.
But we seem to have an indication that the real facts of the
case became afterwards known to the king, at all events,

21 Tnuc.II.xxxv-xlvi. M Tac. r//..4£7vr.xxx-xxxii.

JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST. 163

though not perhaps to the people generally, in the circum-
stance that he does not appear to have kept any other
Passover, or the other two great Feasts in this very same
year, with the like solemnity, as the law of this Book required
— 'Thrice in the year shall all thy males appear before
Jehovah thy Elohim in the place which He shall choose, in
the Feast of Mazzoth, and in the Feast of Weeks, and in the
Feast of Tabernacles.' *•

This command is merely copied from the older code, 50 but
with one important difference, that in that no mention is
made of all male Israelites appearing at these Feasts, ' in the
place which JEHOVAH would choose/ The original command
is simply this — ' Thrice in the year shall all thy males appear
before the Lord Jehovah'; 31 and they would doubtless go to
the nearest Sanctuary, the worship not having been confined
to one place only in that ancient law-book written in the days
of Samuel. 32 How indeed was it possible that from all parts
of the original land of Israel, from the distant Dan, from the
regions across the Jordan, all the males should present them-
selves for these three Feasts at some one place ? The Feast
of Mazzoth 33 or Unleavened Bread, with which the Passover
was connected, occurred in the very midst of the rainy
season ; and the weather in Palestine at this part of the year
is described by travellers as follows — ' Much rain falls, some-
times in torrents, by day and night, but chiefly by night ; and
all that has been said before about inundated plains and
hollows is strictly applicable to this month, as well as that the
streams are, in many cases swollen to deep and rapid rivers
dangerous to pass/ 34 Imagine all the males being required to
travel in such weather — mostly, we must suppose, on foot — a
distance of a hundred miles or more from the more distant
localities, whose inhabitants would therefore consume about a

*» D.xvi.16. •• E.xxiii. 14-17. " ^.17. ** />.?$.

" E.xxiii. 15, xxxiv. 18, D.xvi.16. Sl KiTTO {Phys. Hist, of Pa lcsfim\p. 220.)

M 2

164 JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST.

week at least on the journey each way ! But, having lost
three weeks thus about the beginning of the barley-harvest,
during which they would have left their farming operations,
their cattle and flocks, in the charge of women, children, and
slaves, the men would then remain a month at home, before
being required to start again, in the midst of the wheat-
harvest, to keep the Feast of Weeks, 85 called in older times
the Feast of Harvest. 86 But how can we conceive of all the
males of the Trans-Jordanic tribes, or any considerable
number of them, crossing the river at this season, when
Jordan, we are told, ' overfloweth all its banks all the time of
harvest/ 37 and travellers inform us that ' the current is then so
strong that many of the pilgrims are swept away by it, and a
year seldom passes in which some of them are not drowned ' ? 88
No doubt, in David's time, when the ark had been brought up
to Mount Zion, and in Solomon's, when David's Tent had
been replaced by the Temple, it was desired to draw the
affections of the people towards the royal city, as the centre
of the civil and religious life of the community. Here
Solomon kept the three Feasts, 89 and many would be en-
couraged by the king's example and by other influences to
4 go up to offer sacrifices in the House of Jehovah at Jeru-
salem.' 40 In that age, too, some pressure may have been put
upon the people to induce them to celebrate at Jerusalem ' the
Feast that is in Judah* in the seventh month, 41 that is, the
joyous Autumn festival, called in the older law-book the
'Feast of Ingathering' 42 and afterwards the 'Feast of
Tabernacles' 48 — the only Feast which seems to have been
generally kept in early times. 44 And Jeroboam therefore said
to the Ten Tribes with great significance, 'Ye have had

■* E.xxxiv.22, D.xvi.i6. M E.xxiii.i6. ,7 J.iii.15.

M Kitto {Phys. Hist, of Pa/atine,/*. 17 3.) ■• iK.ix.25.

40 lK.xii.27. 4I lK.xii.32. 4 * E.xxiii. 16, copied in xxxiv.22.

4t L.xxiii.34, D.xvi.i6,xxxi.io, Ezr.iii.4, Zech.xiv. 16.
44 Ju.ix.27,xxi, 19, iS.i.3,2l,ii.i9.

JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST. 165

enough of going up to Jerusalem!' 45 and established ac-
cordingly a single Feast also in his kingdom, on the same day
of the eighth month, 46 which time probably suited Better the
seasons in the north of Palestine. But such a direction as
that before us, requiring on Divine authority the attendance
of all male Israelites thrice a year at 'the place which
Jehovah would choose* — in other words, in the Temple at
Jerusalem — could only have been imagined in such an age as
that of Josiah, when the Ten Tribes had been already carried
into captivity, and the petty kingdom of Judah alone remained
of the wide territories once ruled over by David and Solomon,
so that almost all the people lived within a day's journey of
the capital.

I shall have yet something more to say about this Book of
Deuteronomy. But let us consider for a moment what object
the prophet must have had in view in laying down such an
injunction as this. He hoped, no doubt, that, if the idolatrous
altars were destroyed and the idolatrous symbols once swept
out of the land, and if the people were required to worship
three times a year in the Temple at the three great festivals,
and so were brought under the more direct influence of the
pious priests and prophets who would surely be gathered
around the Sanctuary, all would go well ; his countrymen
would no longer be able to indulge unrestrained their evil
propensities at the different high-places; they would no
longer desire to do so, being fed with Divine Truth from the
central source — more especially if, according to one provision
of this very Book, each king at his accession wrote for himself
with his own hand a copy of this Law, ' that it might be with
him and he might read in it all the days of his life,' 47 while
another enjoins that every seventh year, in the solemnity of
the Feast of Tabernacles, ' when all Israel is come to appear

*» 1K.xii.28. *• v.32,33. « T D.xvii.19.

166 JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST.

before Jehovah in the place which He shall choose, thou
shalt read this Law before Israel in their hearing.' 48 There is
no sign that this direction was carried out even in Josiah's
reign. And alas! Jeremiah must have been soon undeceived
in his fond expectation. Priests and prophets, indeed,
abounded in Jerusalem ; but they did not forward earnestly
the work on which his own heart was set, the work of
'Jehovah, the Elohim of Israel/ It is probable that the
grosser forms of idolatry were not set up again in Judah after
Josiah's Reformation. But the heart of the nation was still as
foul as ever in the sight of their tleavenly King. Again and
again Jeremiah says in his prophecies, ' From the least of
them even unto the greatest of them everyone is given to
covetousness ; and from the prophet even unto the priest
everyone dealeth falsely/ 49 He cries ' I have seen filthiness
in the prophets of Jerusalem ; they commit adultery and walk
in lies ; they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none
doth return from his wickedness ; they are all of them unto
me as Sodom, and its inhabitants as Gomorrah/ 50 And he
sums up all in one exceeding bitter cry — 'The prophets
prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and
My people love to have it so ; and what will ye do in the end
thereof?' 51 It is plain that the whole nation was but as a
whited sepulchre, made fair without by Josiah's cleansing,
but inwardly still full of ' dead men's bones and of all un-
cleanness/ 59

And the lesson surely for our own times is this — that it is
not an outward show of religion which God desires of us,
whether in the profession of creeds, the maintenance of
dogmas, or the observance of ritual, but that singleness and
sincerity of heart and faithfulness of daily life, which becomes
the children of God, 'sons and daughters of the Lord

4n D.xxxi. 10-13. «• Jer.vi.i3,viii. 10, rtwjr/.ii.8,xxiii.n.

•• Jcr.xxiii.14. * l Jer.v.31. w Matt.xxiii.27.

JEREMIAH THE DEUTERONOMIST. 167

Almighty/ 5 * There was ritual enough in our Saviour's time
in Jerusalem, multitudinous sacrifices, cleansings, and washings
— many and long prayers, punctiliously performed in the
Temple and at the corners of the streets — frequent fastings,
solemn faces, phylacteries or portions of the Law fastened
upon the forehead in literal fulfilment of the Deuteronomist's
injunction. 64 There was plenty of orthodoxy — ' Behold ! thou
art called a Jew, and restest in the Law, and makest thy
boast of God, and knowest His Will, and approvest the
things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the
Law, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the
blipd, a light to them that are in darkness, an instructor ol
the foolish, a teacher of babes, who hast the form of know-
ledge and of the truth in the Law.' 55 There was a grand
outcry against blasphemers and heretics — above all against
the holy Jesus and afterwards against his follower Paul.
But the first says to them, 'Ye serpents; ye generation
of vipers ! how can you escape the damnation of hell ?'; w and
the last charges them with causing the name of God to be
blasphemed among the heathen by their impieties and immo-
ralities. 57 Let us remember that daily and hourly ' the true
worshippers may worship the Father in spirit and in truth/ M
amidst the duties of common life, as well as on Sundays and
in the Sanctuary. Let us not be judging each his brother,
but judge each himself, knowing that the watchwords of our
faith are these — 'The Lord knoweth them that are His/
and 'Let all that name the name of Christ depart from
iniquity.' * 9

*» 2C0r.vi.18. *« D.vi.8,xi.i8, com/. E.xiii.9,16, due also to D.

** Rom. ii. 17-20. »• Matt.xxiii.33. * T Rom.ii.21-24.

•• John iv.23. •• 2 Tim. ii. 19.

LECTURE XIII.

SUMMARY.

Mistaken notions about the Pentateuch may poison all our views of the
Divine character ; the Ten Commandments, by whomsoever written, come to
us at once with Divine authority, because in accordance with our moral and
spiritual nature, all except that enjoining the observance of the Sabbath ; but
the weekly rest also is Divinely indicated by the changes of the Moon, as
yearly festivals, and especially the nightly rest, by the course of the Sun ; the
Sabbath among the Hebrews, as among other nations, originated with obser-
ving the Moon's phases ; the New Moon, as the first Sabbath of the month,
honoured with larger sacrifices than the other Sabbaths, and always named
first before the Captivity ; the fourth week in each month probably of uncer-
tain length ; other commands in Deuteronomy repulsive to us as men and
Christians, e.g. those which exclude mutilated persons and others from the
Sanctuary, or enjoin perpetual hostility against the Moabites and Ammonites ;
the stoning of a rebellious son, the utter destruction of the Canaanites ; these
last express only Jeremiah's strong feelings against his idolatrous countrymen ;
in other passages he teaches the Fatherly Love of God.

THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY.

JN eminent living statesman has said — ' Every one
truth is connected with every other truth in
this great Universe of God. . . . Therefore to
accept as a truth that which is not a truth ....
is an evil having consequences which are indeed incalculable.
There are subjects on which one mistake of this kind
will poison all the wells of Truth, and affect with fatal
error the whole circle of our thoughts.' l Nothing can be more
true or can be more clearly and forcibly expressed. Mistaken
notions, for instance, respecting the Mosaic origin and Divine
authority of the Pentateuch may darken or confuse men's
views of the Divine Character, and issue consequently in very
serious faults and aberrations of the life — in bigotry, harsh-
ness, and uncharitableness on the one hand, and on the other
hand in laxity, irreverence, and immorality. The same
writer adds, ' This is among the most certain of all the laws of
man's nature, that his conduct will in the main be guided by
his moral and intellectual opinions.' 2 And the fact of the
existence of this law in human nature is, in truth, the very
justification of the work in which I am now engaged, which
aims at the clearing away of much which has long been

1 Duke of Argyll (Reign o/Law t p.$4,$$). ■ /£.,p.432.

172 THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY.

mistaken for Truth, but is no longer tenable as such, from the
ground on which the 'moral and intellectual opinions' of
multitudes have been formed.

For let us consider some of the phenomena presented by
the laws in Deuteronomy. The address of Moses begins, as
I have said, with the Ten Commandments. 3 We may assume
that these, as they now lie before us, in two different copies
varying from each other in some important particulars,
especially in respect of the Fourth Commandment, 4 were not
really uttered by the Divine Voice on Sinai, since this is
distinctly stated in the New Commentary, which may be
fairly regarded as expressing the present views of the^English
Archbishops and Bishops on this point. Yet we feel at once
that such commands as these ' Honour thy father and thy
mother/ ' Thou shalt do no murder/ ' Thou shalt not commit
adultery/ ' Thou shalt not steal/ ' Thou shalt not bear false
witness/ ' Thou shalt not covet/ are Divine laws, grounded in
the very nature of our being, and, as such, they are approved
by the noblest and best of all nations and religions, without
any reference to the supposed revelation at Sinai. And so,
too, wherever the religious life has made any considerable
progress, the first three Commands, which enjoin a spiritual
and reverential worship of the One True God, commend
themselves to the conscience of each of us, as living words
which God has spoken, not indeed amidst lightnings and
thunderings, out of the thick darkness, but with the still small
voice of His Spirit, and engraved — not upon stones, but —
upon the tables of man's heart, where in the light vouchsafed
by that Divine Spirit our spirits may plainly read them. And
in like manner a little consideration will satisfy us that a
Divine Sanction clearly enjoins the observance of a sabbath,
of one day in seven, as a day of recreation, refreshment, and

3 p. 149. * p. 101,102.

THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY. 173

rest, for the supply of our physical, moral, social, and religious
needs as human beings.

Thus we can no longer believe that the world was created
in six days, with successive outward Divine utterances, as de-
scribed in the first chapter of Genesis. Yet, for all this, and
although the Hebrew writer had, no doubt, mistaken notions
about the nature, magnitudes, and distances of the Sun, Moon,
and Stars, he discerned the eternal, underlying truth, when he
wrote, ' and God said ' — said, not with audible voice on the
fourth day, but said in the depth of the Divine Mind — ' Let
there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day
from the night/ 5 and so He made the Sun to rule by day and
the Moon the night, 6 or, as the Psalmist says —

' He appointed the Moon for seasons,
The Sun knoweth his going down.
Man goeth forth unto his work,
And to his labour until the evening. ' ?

As a rule, then, there is a law laid upon us by our Wise and
Good Creator, that we should wake and work by day, and
rest and sleep at night — a law not meant to be enforced with
rigid severity, as if we might never work by night or sleep by
day — a law made known by a Gracious Father to intelligent
children — a law made for man, not man for the law. The
same Almighty Being, who ages ago, before man existed, pre-
pared gigantic growths of vegetable matter, which, deposited
through millions of years in primaeval swamps, have formed
the coal-beds for the use of man — who provided the stores of
lime and slate and stone, and the mineral wealth that lies
deep buried in the bowels of the earth, with an express view
to the wants of just such a creature as man — has ordered
also the grateful interchange of light and darkness, of day
and night — I say not, for man alone, but for the benefit of
man among the rest. The law of daily toil and nightly rest

* G.i. 14. • X.16. 7 Ts.civ. 19,23.

174 THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY.

is to be our rule, our general guide ; though we are free,
whenever we see sufficient reason for it, to depart from that
law. We know, however, that, if we do depart from it con-
stantly — if we turn day into night and night into day habit-
ually, without something to compensate this breach of Nature's
law — we shall suffer the evil consequences ; and those amuse-
ments or occupations, which compel to any great extent a
persistence in such habits, are almost sure to injure health and
shorten the duration of life. ' God has spoken ' this word to
our reason, as plainly as if He had uttered it with a loud voice
in our hearing, that the day time shall, as a rule, be the time
for labour, not only for individuals, but for social common
work, for those employments which concern the whole com-
munity.

And so it is with regard to the week and the weekly rest.
We know by experience that men cannot go on for ever, day
after day, wearied and worn by toil and the cares of business
and the labours of public life — that they need intervals of
rest besides the nightly sleep, by means of which the body
may be restored and reinvigorated, and the mind recover its
tone, and both may be ready to spring on cheerfully again to
the work suspended. Nature herself points out to us certain
annual seasons of more extended holiday, as at Mid-summer or
Mid-winter, in the Spring, or after Harvest. Thus the Jews
had their three annual festivals, in Spring, Summer, and
Autumn ; and we find that among almost all nations, even the
most barbarous, some such seasons are observed as times of
very general relaxation from anxious thought and care, as
well as of social meeting and enjoyment.

But besides these greater annual festivals, marked out by
the Sun; we need also— at all events in civilised communities,
where there is such continual tension of the brain and
drainage of the nervous power — the recurrence of days of rest
at shorter intervals, for bodily or mental recreation, for family

THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY. 175

meetings and friendly greetings, and, above all, for common
worship — rest, not enforced by positive law, but commended
to us by the wise provisions of our Great Creator, and approved
by experience as the source of infinite good to the whole
community — the right of the poor man as well as the rich — as
needful, in fact, for the wants of our complex nature as the
rest by night after the daily toil. ' God has spoken ' to us
this word also, that every seventh day shall be kept as a day
of rest, not from the burning summit of Sinai, but, in His
Fatherly Wisdom and Goodness, by the mere fact of ordering
the changes of the moon for us, so that she completes each
phase in seven days. I do not say that this is the reason —
the only or the main reason — why this has been ordered thus.
But I do say that we may thankfully believe that the changes
of the Moon exist for this reason among others. As one has
said, ' The phases of the Moon supply a familiar mark of time
to the simplest and rudest nations— the phenomena of the
New and Full Moon especially being such that men cannot
fail to notice and employ them as the natural rule of their
calendar. And, if a twofold division of the month is thus a
matter of necessity to an ordinary observation, a fourfold
division is, at least, inevitably suggested by the Moon's inter-
mediate phases. Thus we have the week of seven days.' 8

That this was really the object of the weekly Sabbath among
the Hebrews is plain from the fact that the New Moon was —
at least in the older times —regarded by them as a more im-
portant day than the ordinary Sabbath ; and, accordingly, in
addition to the usual daily sacrifice, the Levitical Law pro-
vides a ' burnt-offering ' on the New Moon of ' two bullocks,
one ram, and seven lambs/ with a kid for a sin-offering,
whereas on the Sabbath the additional sacrifice was only a
burnt-offering of ' two lambs/ 9 The New Moon, in short,

8 Ed.Rrvinv y zxw. p. 545 ; see Natal Sermons ; I. p. 272,3, where passages are
quoted from Hessky's Ram f ton lectures & Cox's Literature of the Sabbath Question.
• N.xxviii.9, 11,15.

76 THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY.

vas the first Sabbath of the month, which was specially
.nnounced by trumpet sounds, 10 and gave the law, as it were,
or the rest, the first, 11 eighth, fifteenth, 18 and twenty-second, 1 *
lays of every month being kept as days of rest, and the
Lext Sabbath being the first of the following month ; though,
s the lunar changes are completed — not in 28, but — in 29J
lays, it would seem that the last week of the month must
ave contained sometimes eight and sometimes nine days,
nd probably lasted until the New Moon was seen,
lence the New Moon is always named first in connection
rith the Sabbath by the prophets before the Captivity, as
rtiere Isaiah says, ' The New Moons and Sabbaths I cannot
ndure/ M or Hosea prophesies, ' I will cause all her mirth to
ease, her Feast-days, her New Moons, and her Sabbaths,' l5
r Amos hears the people asking, ' When will the New Moon
e gone, that we may sell corn, and the Sabbath that we
lay set forth wheat ? ' 16 or the Shunammite's husband says to
er, ' Wherefore wilt thou go to the prophet to-day ? It is
either New Moon nor Sabbath ? ' 17 It was only about the
me of the Captivity 18 that greater stress was laid upon
le observance of the Sabbath, as bringing the people to-
ethcr for religious instruction and binding them in com-
lon worship, and especially after it, 19 when their City and
emple lay in ruins and they lived as exiles in a heathen land ;
nd then we begin to find the Sabbath sometimes named
rst, ao as it always is in the still later days of the second
emple. 21
It is not, then, because according to the traditionary

'• N.x. 10. " r<?z*/.E.xl.2,i7, L.xxiii.24.

11 <w»/.L.xxiii.6,7,34 t 35. " <w«/.L.xxiii.8,36, 2Ch.vii. 10.

M Is.i.13. " Hos.ii.il. »• Am.viii.5. ,7 2K.iv.23. ,

w Jer.xvii. 19-27. '• Ez.xx.12,13,16,24, xxii.8,23,26, xxiii.3 9 , xliv.24. Is.

i.2,4, lviii. 13.

*• Kz.xlvi.1,3, but see Ez.xlv. 17, Is.lxvi.23.

*' iCh.xxiii.31, 2l'h.ii.4, viii. 13, xxxi.3, Nch.x.33.

THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY. 177

teaching these Ten Commandments are supposed to have
been spoken by the Divine Voice on Sinai, that men's views
of the Divine Character are in danger of being darkened —
except so far as such teaching requires them also to believe
that the sole recipient of these awful revelations and of a
multitude of others, attested and enforced by a series of stu-
pendous miracles which produce very little or no effect, was
one insignificant, rebellious, idolatrous tribe, as being God's
' peculiar treasure above all people/" whom JEHOVAH ' had
' chosen to be a special people for Himself above all peoples
that are upon the fece of the earth/ M We can recognise these
Ten Words as Divine laws, by whomsoever spoken or written.
But there are other commands in this Book of the Law which
we instinctively reject, because they are at variance with the
laws of our moral being, because they conflict at once with
the plain lessons of Christ's Gospel, and with those eternal
principles of right and wrong, which the Creator Himself has
planted within us, in respect of which we are made 'In His
image, after His likeness/ a4

For instance, that Law of Justice and Equity, which God
has written with His own Finger upon our hearts, contradicts
such commands as that which excludes from the congrega-
tion of JEHOVAH one mutilated, perhaps in helpless infancy, 25
while those who had done, the deed were allowed free access
to the Sanctuary, or which excludes in like manner an inno-
cent base-born child, 16 but takes no account of the vicious
parents, or which bars all approach to the Temple against the
Ammonites and Moabites for ever, because of some real or
supposed unkindness on the part of their forefathers towards
the ancestors of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt
nearly a thousand years previously, and orders, ' Thou shalt
not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for

» E.xix.5. » D.vii.6. « G.i.26. » D.xxiii.1. » D.xxiii.2.

N

178 THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY.

ever/ a7 — with other laws of a kindred nature. We feel that
these cannot be regarded as utterances of the blessed Will of
God — that the writer of them, though an inspired man, can-
not certainly have written thus by Divine Inspiration ; and it
is a relief to our consciences to be no longer compelled to re-
ceive such commands as proceeding from Infinite Goodness
and Wisdom, as guaranteed by Supreme Authority, as
Divinely perfect, infallibly true. How much more when we
find another law which orders that a ' stubborn and rebellious
son ' shall be stoned to death,* 8 though no punishment is de-
nounced against the parents, who perhaps by their own
vicious example had corrupted, or by their weak and
faulty training had ruined, their child, and others which en-
join, 'When JEHOVAH thy Elohim shall deliver these nations
before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them ;
thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto
them/ " ' thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth, but
thou shalt utterly destroy them.' *° When these ferocious
commands and others like them are ascribed to the Fountain
of all loving-kindness, ' the God of the spirits of all flesh,' 8I
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Father in Heaven,
or to Moses speaking in His Name to His chosen people, we
shudder and shrink away from the painful thought of such
words revealing the Divine character to man. Were the Canan-
ites idolaters ? and what were the Israelites ? Were they any
better than the Canaanites ! Were they not worse, as they
sinned against clearer light and knowledge, — if not amidst
the Divine revelations supposed to have been imparted in the
wilderness," yet certainly amidst the warnings of those great
prophets whom God had raised up from time to time among
them ? And does not this book of Deuteronomy say of them,
' JEHOVAH hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes

*» D.xxiii.3-6. *■ D.xxi. 18-21. » D.vii.2. »• D.xx.16,17.

81 N.xvi.22,xxvii.i6,Heb.xii.9. n E.xxxii. i-6,N.xxv. 1-5.

THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY. 179

to see, and ears to hear, unto this day* ? 38 Was it to protect
a people like this from being corrupted by intermarrying with
the heathen tribes around them, that the Holy One uttered
such commands as these ? Or shall the All-Wise be charged
with such a shortsighted policy which was utterly frustrated
in the result ? No ! our reason and conscience, our whole
being, revolts from them ; we feel that we cannot worship
with our whole heart and soul, we cannot adore and love, we
can only fear and distrust, a Deity whose character is thus
exhibited. And we turn with comfort and life-inspiring hope
to him who said — ' Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you, that ye may be the
children of your Father which is in Heaven.' u

But, again, what a relief it is to know that here we have
only the prophet Jeremiah, one of the most tender-hearted of
men, making use of the tribes of Canaan as a warning for his
own idolatrous countrymen, at a time when those tribes had
for centuries ceased to exist, and setting forth the figure of
them, driven out from their old abode, and ruthlessly exter-
minated, as a sign of the doom which they deserved, and
which most surely awaited them, if they too practised the like
abominations. And so the rebellious son is only a type of
that rebellious people of whom he says in Jehovah's Name,
' I am a Father unto Israel and Ephraim is My firstborn/ **
yet who had ' said to a stock, Thou art my Father, and to a
stone, Thou hast brought me forth/ 36 but whom he longed to
bring back to the footstool of Divine Mercy, saying hence-
forth, ' My Father, Thou art the guide of my youth/ 87

When, therefore, we hear such words as these, ' Thou shalt
also consider in thine heart that, as a man chasteneth his son,
so the Living God, thy God, doth chasten thee/ * s we shall

w D.xxix 4. ■• Matt.v.44,45. " Jer.xxxi.9. «• Jer.ii.27.

17 jer.iii.4. * D.viii.5.

N 2

180 THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY.

joyfully welcome them as words of truth, not merely because
we find them in the Bible, but because they are true, eternally
true. For it is true that God loves us as dear children, and
that we may go to Him at all times with a childlike trust and
love, as with a childlike reverence and fear. Rather we must
go to Him thus if we would please Him, acting upon the
words of that dear Son who has taught us all to say ' Our
Father.' We must ' consider in our hearts ' that He who has
planted in our breast, as human beings, dear love to our
children, a love stronger than death, does by that very love
of ours shadow forth to us His own Fatherly Love. Our
love can take in every child of the family ; our hearts can find
a place for all ; yes, and our love embraces the far-off prodigal
in his miserable wanderings, no less surely and no less
tenderly than the dear obedient child, that sits by our side,
rejoicing in the sweet delights of home. He who has taught
us to love our children thus, how shall He not also love His
children, with the Love in which the separate loves of earthly
parents are blessed and find their full infinite expression — the
Father's wisdom and firmness, to guide and counsel, or, if
need be, to chasten — the Mother's tender pity and compas-
sion, that will draw near with sweet consolations in each hour
of sorrow and suffering, will sympathise with every grief and
trial, will bow down to hear each shame-stricken confes-
sion, will bp ready to receive the first broken words of peni-
tence, and whisper the promise of forgiveness and peace.

Ah ! truly the little one may cling to its mother's neck,
and the mother's love will feel the gentle pressure, and will
delight to feel it : but it is not the feeble clinging of the child
that holds it up to its mother's breast ; it is the strong arm
of love that embraces it. And we, in our most earnest
prayers and aspirations, in our cleaving unto God, in our
longing and striving after Truth, in our ' feeling after Him '

THE CONTENTS OF DEUTERONOMY. 181

who ' is not far from anyone of us/ 89 are but as babes
'stretching out weak hands of faith* to lay hold of Him
* whom no man hath seen or can see/ 4 ^ but who, unseen, is
ever near us, whose faithful Love embraces all His children,
those that are far off as well as those that are near, the
heathen and the Christian, the sinner as well as the saint
But it is not our knowledge, however clear, nor our faith,
however firm and orthodox, nor our charity, however bright
and pure, that holds us up daily and binds us to the bosom of
our God. ' Our Father ' will delight in all the sacred confi-
dences of His children — their clingings of faith and hope —
their longings of pure desire for a closer sense of His Pre-
sence — their holy aspirations and penitential confessions.
But it is not our prayer that will hold us up. It is His Love
alone that does this.

' The Eternal God is our refuge,
And underneath are the Everlasting Arms.' 4I

** Acts xvii.27. * 1Tim.vi.16. « D.xxxiii.27.

LECTURE XIV.

SUMMARY.

Recapitulation ; the very late age of the Levitical Legislation only recently
ascertained ; innocent fictions of heathen and older Hebrew historians, in-
cluding the Deuteronomist ; dishonest fictions of the priestly writers of the
Pentateuch ; the Deuteronomist refers repeatedly to the Original Story, but
nowhere to the Levitical Legislation ; he differs materially from that Legisla-
tion by never speaking of the priests as ' sons of Aaron,' by making no dis-
tinction between the priests and the Levites, by making a much smaller
provision out of the sacrifices for the Levites officiating as priests, by classing
the Levites generally with the needy and destitute, and not assigning to them
the tithes and firstlings ; hence the Levitical Legislation was not known to
the Deuteronomist (Jeremiah) ; some portions of it, apparently, were com-
posed by Ezekiel, who has followed Jeremiah's example, and like him knows
nothing of an Aaron ic priesthood, but speaks of the priests as * Levites, sons
of Zadok ; ' petty ritualism enforced by still later priestly writers ; meaning of
the desire of man's heart for the priestly office ; the priesthood of Christ and
his true followers.

THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION.

. E have now considered the composition of the
Pentateuch, so far as concerns, first, the oldest
portions in Genesis and Exodus, the foundation
of the whole story, written probably in the age of
Samuel, in which the name 'Elohim/ God, is used always
for the Deity to the exclusion of 'Jehovah/ and which, when
taken out by themselves, are found to form a continuous
narrative — then the copious additions and amplifications in
the days of David and Solomon, in which the name JEHOVAH
is used, and which together with the former made up the
Original Story, as it came into the hands of the Deuterono-
mist,— : and, lastly, the Deuteronomistic passages and the
greater part of Deuteronomy itself, introduced about four
centuries afterwards, in the age, and most probably by the
hand, of Jeremiah. There still remains, however, the Leviti-
cal Legislation, filling about one half of the Pentateuch, which
has had so important a part in establishing the priestly
system, first in the Jewish and then in the Christian Church.
It has been the special work of the last few years to have
solved the question as to when this portion of the Pentateuch
was written ; and the result is one of the utmost interest
and importance, not only as regards the history of religious

1 86 THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION.

development m Israel, but in its bearing upon the ritualistic
movement of our own times.

In the historical passages of the Original Story we find
only the result of an innocent and praiseworthy attempt to
dress up in a pleasing and instructive style the early traditions
of the Hebrew people, with all the aid of poety and fiction,
such as have been employed abundantly by the greatest
writers of Greece and Rome, by Homer and Herodotus,
Virgil and Livy, in their histories of primitive times. Their
works are the delight and admiration of all ages, and they
have never brought upon the writers the reproach of dis-
honesty, however inconsistent with the actual facts we are
very sure their statements must often be. But, in putting
forth such statements, they had no intention to deceive ;
they were ignorant themselves of the real course of events,
and they were known to be so : they did but collect and em-
bellish the ancient myths and legends which existed in their
days, expanding these scanty data out of their own imagina-
tions, and so building up a circumstantial narrative, with
events, addresses, conversations, Divine and human, accom-
panied at times with sage remarks, according to their light,
upon the moral bearing of the incidents recorded.

Just so with the early writers of Hebrew History. They
knew nothing certainly about those ancient times of their
forefathers, except the great facts that their nation had once
been in a servile condition in Egypt, and had escaped from
that slavery and after painful wanderings had found their way
to Canaan, and .there by degrees had made themselves
masters of the land — which facts, with others like them, had
come down by tradition from sire to son through the two
or three centuries which had elapsed from the Exodus to
Samuel's time. In the course of a very few generations the
details of this march and of the conquest must have been lost
among a people who were living in a rude state as separate

THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION, 187

tribes, and were probably little exercised in writing before the
age of Samuel and his schools. But for the arts of writing and
printing what should we know, as Englishmen, about the de-
tails of Queen Elizabeth's reign, about the part, for instance,
which this or that hero took in the defeat of the Great
Armada, unless perhaps some song or ballad had preserved
the memory of the gallant deed for future ages ? Upon such
data, however, Samuel and his immediate followers — very
probably students in his schools — appear to have built up the
Original Story of the Exodus very much out of their own im-
aginations, with the help of ancient myths, such as those of
the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge, and legends attached
to the names of famous persons and places or to those of
sacred stones and trees, which legends, however, seem for the
most part to have originated with the writers themselves,
suggested by the mere existence of the names in question.
Still, in all this there was no dishonesty or deceit : we have
no reason whatever to suppose that they even pretended that
what they wrote was veracious history : they may have put
forth their narrative from the first as a mere work of the im-
agination. It is the men of later days who have insisted
upon regarding these stories as actual history, with all their
astounding contradictions of the plainest facts of Natural
Science and their agglomeration of stupendous miracles.

So, too, the attempt of Jeremiah, as we suppose, to infuse
a more religious character into the Older Story, by the
insertion of passages written in his own spirited, prophetical
style, and by the addition of almost the whole Book of
Deuteronomy as a kind of commentary on the older law, can
be perfectly reconciled, as we have seen, with good faith on
his part, and with a high and noble motive, more especially
when we take into account the habits of his people. In our
days few pious persons would presume to ascribe directly to
the Supreme Being the thoughts with which their own bosoms

188 THE LATER OR LEV1TICAL LEGISLATION.

were stirred, though fully believing themselves to be under
the influence of the Divine Teacher of men. But a Jewish
prophet like Jeremiah would have said at once, ' Thus saith
Jehovah/ if any idea presented itself to his mind with
overpowering force as unquestionably right and good and
true. Hitherto, therefore, we have had nothing to which the
terms 'forger* and 'forgery' can be justly applied, which have
been freely used by some defenders of traditionary views, 1 to
raise a prejudice in their readers' minds against the con-
clusions of Modern Criticism.

But hitherto we have only had to deal with propJutical
writers, or with men, like Jeremiah, in whom the prophetical
entirely overpowered the priestly element. We come now
upon the domain of the priest. And here, if anywhere, such
words may with some justice be applied ; for there can be
little room for doubt, with any who will take the pains to
study thoroughly the subject, that the whole of the Levitical
Legislation of the Pentateuch was written by priestly writers
during or after the Captivity, and written, most Of it, with the
direct purpose of magnifying their own office and asserting
their own special rights and prerogatives. The first clear hint
which we get of this fact is derived from a close consideration
of the Address of Moses, which formed the Book of the Law
as found in the Temple by Hilkiah. In this, or rather in
D.i-xxx, we find numerous allusions to the Original Story of
the Exodus — to Jacob's going down into Egypt 'a Syrian
ready to perish,' with only ' a few,' a i.e. seventy persons, 3 —
where Israel became ' a nation, great, mighty, and populous ' 4
— to the Egyptians afflicting the Israelites, 5 who cried unto
JEHOVAH, and He • looked upon their affliction,' 6 — to the

1 e.g. Bp. Browne, New Bible Commentary, ' a forger? p. 12,17,20,196,227,
229,232, 'any skilful forger? 'who have been fixed upon as probable forgers of
the Pentateuch, such as Samuel or Jeremiah,' p. 18, &c.

2 xxvi.5, comp. E.i. 1. ■ x.22, comp. E.i.5.

* i.io,x.22,xxvi.5,xxviii.62, comp. E.i. 7, 9, 12, 20.

• xxvi.6, comp. E.i 1 1, 13,34^1.9. • xxvi.7, comp. E.ii.23-25,iii.7,9,iv.3i.

THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 189

promise made to their fathers of the land of Canaan, 7 and the
' deliverance of Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders '
wrought upon ' Pharaoh and all his house/ * — to the flight out
of Egypt ' in haste/ 9 ' by night in the month of Abib/ 10 and
the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, 11 — to the
provocations of Jehovah in the wilderness, 12 the mur-
murings, 13 the rebellion, 14 — to the manna, 15 the Golden Calf, 16
the fiery serpents, 17 — to the attack of Amalek, 18 the leprosy
of Miriam, 19 the destruction of Dathan and Abiram, 20 the
prophecies of Balaam, 21 — in short, to a multitude of
incidents which show that the writer must have been well
acquainted with the Original Story very much in its present
form. It may have been preserved in the Temple, or in the
hands of some of the priests, from the time of Solomon down-
wards, and may have thus been seen and studied by Jeremiah,
as being himself a priest, perhaps the son of the high-priest of
Josiah's time. However this may be, certain it is that the
Original Story must have existed in his time, and that he
must have been familiar with it

How, then, can we account for the fact that, amidst all
these numerous references, there does not occur in D.i-xxx
one single allusion to any of the historical incidents or
precepts specially recorded in the Levitical Legislation?
He mentions the Ark indeed, 22 but that is mentioned in the
Original Story : M he does not mention the splendid Taber-
nacle, built (it is supposed) by express Divine instructions,
after the model which was shown to Moses in the Mount 24

T vi. io,l8,&c.,rt>w/.E.vi.2-4,&c. • vi.2i,22,&c, comp. E.vii,&c.

• xvi.3, comp. E.xii. 33,39. ,0 xvi.l, comp. E.xiii.4,xxxiv.i8.

11 xi.4, comp. E.xiv.27,28. " ix.7, comp. E.xiv. n,xvii.3,&c.

x% ix.22, comp. N.xi. 1-3,31-34. I4 ix.23, comp. N.xiv.i,&c.

" viii.3,16, comp. N.xi.4-9. w ix. 8-2 1, 25-29, comp. E.xxxii.

17 viii.15, comp. N.xxi.6. " xxv.17-19, comp. E.xvii.8 16.

'• xxiv.9, comp. N.xii. 20 xi.6, comp. N.xvi.25-33.
11 xxiii.4,5, cornf. N.xxii-xxiv.
« D.x.i-5,8,xxxi.9,25,26. t% N.x.33,35,xiv.44. 2 « E.xxvi.30.

190 THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION.

He mentions Aaron, 15 but only in connexion with his
scandalous conduct, as related in the Original Story, 26 in
respect of the Golden Calf, the symbol of the Sun-God,
which Aaron had made for Israel to worship. He never
speaks of him as ' priest ' and the head of the priesthood :
he never calls the priests the ' sons of Aaron/ as they are
invariably called in the Levitical Law ; he calls the priests
always ' Levites ' * 7 or ' sons of Levi/ 28 But the Levitical
Legislation everywhere sharply distinguishes between the
' priests, the Sons of Aaron/ and the ' Levites/ w and makes
Moses rebuke indignantly the 'sons of Levi* for aspiring
to act as priests, saying, ' Seek ye the priesthood also ? ' 30
and it lays down the law that no one, ' who was not of the
seed of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before
JEHOVAH, that he be not as Korah the Levite and his
company/ 81 who were struck dead by lightning for having
presumed to do so. 82 Accordingly, whereas the Deuter-
onomist says that ' the whole tribe of Levi ' was ' separated
to stand before JEHOVAH to minister unto Him, and to bless
in His Name/ 38 the Levitical Law reserves these offices
exclusively for the priests, 84 and orders that the Levites
shall be only the servants of the priests, shall ' stand before
Aaron the priest that they may minister unto him,'** — that
Aaron and his sons shall keep their priesthood, and any
stranger that cometh near, whether layman or Levite, shall
be put to death/ 36 —that the Levites shall not even ' go in to
see when the holy things are covered by- the priests/ 87 or

** D.ix.20. N.B. x.67, is probably a fragment of the O.S., out of its proper
place, except the last clause of v. 6, which belongs to the Levitical Legislation
(L.L.), as does also D.xxxii. 48-52. *• E.xxxii. 1-6,21-25.

91 D.xvii.9,i8,xviii. i,xxiv.8,xxvii.9, comp. xviii.6,7,xxvii. I4,xxxi.25, where
also ' Levite' = 4 priest.' *• D.xxi.5,xxxi.9.

»• E.xxxviii.2i,xxxix.4i, L.i.5,7,8,&c, viii.2,&c.,N.iii.3,4,9,io,&c.

w N.xvi.io. n v.40. " z/.35. »» D.x.8.

■• E.xxviii.1,3,35,43, N.vi.27. ** N.iii.5-10, viii, I9,xviii. 1-6.

*• N.iii.io,38,xviii.7. n N.iv. 15,19,20.

THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION, 191

' come near to the holy vessels and the altar,' 38 ' lest they
die/

Moreover, the Deuteronomist makes certain provisions for
the maintenance of these ' priests the sons of Levi ' : but
these are entirely at variance with those in the Levitical Law.
Thus he directs that all the Levites — 'the whole tribe oi Levi '
— shall eat the ' fire-offerings of JEHOVAH,' w and that any
Levite y coming 'with all the desire of his mind* to
minister at the Sanctuary, should ' have like portions with the
rest of his brethren, who stood there before JEHOVAH to
minister,' 40 that is, should ' have like portions ' with the other
Levites who officiated there as priests. But in the Levitical
Law these ' fire-offerings ' are expressly assigned to the ' sons
of Aaron the priests ' ; 4l whereas the Levites were to receive
merely the tithes of corn, wine, and oil, 42 and of these they
were to give a tithe to the priests. 43 Also the Deuteronomist
defines these 'fire-offerings' — that is to say, the portions
which the priests might claim of the sacrifices — as the
shoulder, the two cheeks (or head), and the maw (or tripe-
stomach) ; 44 whereas the Levitical Law makes a much more
sumptuous provision, namely, the breast and hind-leg of
every victim, 45 together with all the firstfruits of corn, and
wine, and oil, 46 and all the firstlings of sheep and oxen. 47
Once more the Deuteronomist classes the Levites repeatedly,
not only with ' the manservant and the maidservant,' but, as
being generally poor and needy, with 'the stranger, the
widow, and the fatherless,' 48 who should be charitably
invited to share in the feasts which pious Israelites were
commanded to make for their families annually at the Sanc-
tuary, 49 upon the tithes of corn, and wine, and oil, and the

** N.xviii.3. n D.xviii. 1. 40 v.6-8.

41 L.ii.3,io,vi.i7,i8,vii.5,&c.,3i-35,x.i4,i5,xxiv.9. ° N.xviii.21,24.

*' v. 25-28. ** D.xviii. 3.

♦* E.xxix.26,28, L.vii.31,34, N.xviii.18. «• N.xvii. 12,13.

47 v. 15-18. 4§ xii.l2,l8,xiv.29,xvi.ll,l4,xxvi.n,i2,i3.

4 * xii. 1 1, 12, i7-i9,xiv.22-27,xxvi. 12, 13.

192 THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION.

firstlings of sheep and oxen, 50 and once in three years upon
the tithes at home 51 — 'and the Levite that is within thy
gates, thou shalt not forsake him/ 'the Levite and the
stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy
gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied/ 52 But the
Levitical Law, as we have just seen, assigns these very tithes
wholly to the Levites and these firstlings wholly to the
priests ; and, though the New Bible Commentary invents a
1 second ' set of ' tithes ' to explain these contradictions,
which should be expressly used for such feasts, the 'first
tithes ' having been duly paid to the Levites, 58 it does not
venture to suggest a second set of ' firstlings.' From all this
it is plain that the Deuteronomist could never have had before
him the Levitical Law, as part of a Mosaic and Divine dis-
pensation, prefaced everywhere by the announcement ' And
JEHOVAH said to Moses 154 — that, in other words, no such
Levitical Law existed at all in his time. It must have been
inserted in later days, after the time of Jeremiah, that is,
during or after the Captivity.

Accordingly it is found that some portions of the Book of
Leviticus, as L.xviii-xx, and especially L.xxvi, betray un-
mistakably the hand of Ezekiel, who was one of the priests
carried captive to Babylon with Josiah's grandson Jehoiachin. 55
The captive Jews in the district of Babylon had perhaps
referred to the priest Ezekiel for instruction on certain points ;
or he may have thought it good to lay down a number of
precepts, partly ceremonial, partly moral and religious, as
necessary to be observed by them, if they would still remain
in that far-off land true servants of their Heavenly King ; and
accordingly he does this in L.xviii-xx. But Ezekiel was a
prophet as well as a priest, and in L.xxvi he gives a grand
prophetical warning, containing a number of his own peculiar

50 xii.6,i7,xiv.23. ftl xiv.28,29,xxvi. 12,13. M xiv. 27,29. M I. p. 797.
** E. xxv. 1, xxx. 1 1, 1 7, 22, 34, &c. ** Ez.i.2,3.

THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 193

expressions, which all occur again in Ezekiel's prophecies, but
of which eighteen are found nowhere else in the Pentateuch. 56
It has been said indeed that Ezekiel may have derived these
phrases from the Book of Leviticus, which he had devoutly
read. But it is idle to suppose that a writer so profuse and
so peculiar, as this prophet is on all hands acknowledged to
be, should have studied so closely — not the whole Book of
Leviticus, but — this one particular chapter out of the whole
Pentateuch (L.xxvi), as to have become thoroughly imbued
with its style and to have made its very language his own.
Rather, he had before him the grand words of his brother
prophet Jeremiah in D.xxviii, xxxii, from, which, in fact, he
quotes some expressions in this chapter, 57 as he does also in
his prophecies ; 58 and after Jeremiah's example, though not
with the same rhetorical power, he launches against his
countrymen threats of Divine vengeance if they persist in
their idolatry and disobedience, mingled with promises of
good if they are faithful, and ending with a pledge of final
restoration. And it is very noticeable that Ezekiel the priest,
like Jeremiah the priest, never speaks in his prophecies of the
priests as ' sons of Aaron/ nor even once mentions Aaron as
the supposed head of his own priestly order ; from which it is
clear that in their time this title did not exist — much less

* /V/i/.VLs.

M v. 16, 'consumption, fever,' comp. D.xxviii. 22 ; v. 1 6, 'consuming the eyes
and causing sorrow of heart, * comp. D.xxviii. 65 ; v. 1 6, 'and ye shall sow your
seed in vain and your enemies shall eat it,' comp. D.xxviii. 33, 51 ; 'and ye shall
be smitten before your enemies,' comp. D.xxviii. 7,28 j v. 19, 'and I will make
your heaven as iron and your land as brass,' comp. D.xxviii. 23 ; v. 2 1, 'and I will
add plagues upon thee,' comp. D.xxviii. 59, 61 ; v. 29, 'and ye shall eat the flesh
of your sons and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat,' comp. D.xxviii. 53, &c. ;
v.S, * and five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall chase
ten thousand,' comp. D. xxxii. 30.

*• comp. Ez.v. 10 with D.xxviii. 5 3-5 7 — Ez.v.i2,xx.23,xxii. 15, with D.xxviii 64
— Ez.v. 14,15, with D.xxviii. 37 — Ez.xiv.8, 'and I will make him a sign and a
proverb,' xxii.4,xxxvi.3, with D.xxviii.37 — Ez.v.16,17, with D.xxii.23,24 — Ez.
vii. 15 with D.xxxii.25 — Ez.vii.26 with D. xxxii. 23 — Ez.viii.3, 'which provoketh
to jealousy,' with D.xxxii. 16,21 — Ez.xvi. 13,15, with D. xxxii. 1 3- 1 5.

O

194 THE LATER OR LEVIT1CAL LEGISLATION.

exist as one Divinely originated. They both speak of the
priests as ' Levites ' or ' sons of Levi ' ; w and, when Ezekicl
wishes to distinguish between the great body of the Levites
who had taken part in idolatrous rites before the Captivity
and those who had adhered to the pure worship of Jehovah,
he calls the latter ' the priests the sons of Zadok among the
sons of Levi/ ' the priests the Levites who are of the seed of
Zadok,' 'the priests the Levites the sons of Zadok? 'the
priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who kept My
charge, who went not astray when the children of Israel went -
astray, as the Levites went astray ' 60 — from which also we see
that the idea of the Aaronic priesthood, as laid down in the
Levitical Law, must have been of a later date than the days
of Ezekiel.

But the example thus set was followed in a very different
spirit by those who composed the great mass of the Levitical
Law, abounding with minute directions for ritualistic and
ceremonial observances, and enjoining the utmost reverence
for the Sanctuary, and also for the priest as alone privileged
to enter the holy place and draw near to the symbol of
JEHOVAH'S presence. And so they 'bound heavy burdens
and grievous to be borne, and laid them on men's shoulders,'
while the weightier matters of the Law, on which such stress
is laid in the Book of Deuteronomy, justice, mercy, and
truth, are almost wholly passed by in this priestly Legislation.
In this Law, for instance, mere natural occurrences are classed
as offences for which a sacrifice must be offered — always, of
course, to the advantage of the priest who had his share of it
— such as child-birth, 61 leprosy, 62 &c, or trivial acts of inad-
vertence by which some ceremonial defilement may have been
incurred, 63 it being ordained, for instance, that anyone who

*• Jer.xxxiii. 18,21,22, Ez.xl.46,xliii. I9,xliv.i$,xlviii. 13.

80 Ez.xl.46,xliii. iQ,xliv. I5,xlviii. 11.

•' L.xii.8. •* L.xiv.19. n L.xv. 14,29.

THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 195

touched, without even knowing it, a dead mouse, lizard, mole,
or snail, should be ' unclean until the evening/ M that anyone
who ate turtle should be an ' abomination/ 65 that any vessel
of wood, raiment, skin, or sack, over which a snail had
crossed or a mouse had run, should be unclean, 66 and every
earthen vessel so defiled should be broken. 67 It need hardly-
be said that all distinctions between right and wrong must
have been confounded in the writer's mind and in that of his
fellow-priests who enforced or tried to enforce such teaching,
and in that of the laity who received it as the Word of the
Living God.

Yet in all ages, wherever this priestly power, with its claim
to discharge the office of mediator between God and man, has
become the supposed possession of a class of men, who could
use it to admit their fellows to religious privileges or else to
debar them from them, whether those of the Jewish Church or
of the Christian, ' casting out/ as they of old cast out the
man who confessed that Jesus was the Christ, 68 or rejecting
for doctrinal differences the true in heart and life from the
common feast of Christians,— who claimed not only to receive
into the number of God's children, but to exclude from the
care and love of the Universal Father, — the real profaneness
of the assumption has not prevented the power thus arrogated
being allowed by very many, and the supposition that it can
exist elsewhere than in the imagination of the priest himself
and his disciples has been a heavy chain upon the progress of
humanity.

Still the thirst of man's heart for the office of the priest,
which has been exhibited, more or less, in all times, in all
places, under all religions, must have some real meaning.
And indeed that office derives its significance and power from
the deepest of all the instincts of humanity, the craving to

44 L.xi.29-31. •» v. 29.43. * 7 '-3 2 -

• 7 ?'. 33. OT John ix. 22-34.

o 2

196 THE LATER OR LEVITICAL LEGISLATION,

know something about Him who is exalted above all blessing
and praise, to be bf ought into the fuller consciousness of His
Presence, to have some sure hope of His Favour, at least, of
His Pity, to be able to believe that the utterance of our
hearts reaches His Ear, our song of adoration and thanks-
giving, or our moan of regret and self-abhorrence. The voice
of a fellow-mortal, who claims to have some assurance of
these things to offer, is too welcome to the longing spirit or to
the sick and weary soul, not to be welcomed. It is not for
us to judge our brother who may find the priestly office a
stay and support for his tottering steps along the way of life.
It is enough if v/e remember for ourselves that this is the
true priestly function, when one who is more spiritually
minded than his brethren, more pure in heart, more faithful
in life, who has thus been brought more near to God than
they, confirms their faith and quickens their love and holy
fear by sympathy with his own — even as he, the great high-
priest of our profession, 69 by his blessed teaching has brought
us all near to God, 70 and by the ministrations of his Father's
Love in life and death has opened for us the way of access
with boldness to His Presence 71 — even as we too, in our dif-
ferent relations, may day by day reveal the Father to each
other, by the spirit of Christ which abides in us, the filial spirit
of trust and loving obedience, and help to bring one another
near to His Footstool, in accordance with that word, ' One is
your Father, even God ; one is your Master, even Christ ;
and all ye are brethren.' n

m Heb.iii.i. r# Rom.v.2, Eph.fi. i8,iii. 12.

71 Heb.xii. 19-22. n Mattxxiii.8,9.

LECTURE XV.

SUMMARY.

The account of the Mosaic Tabernacle, &c, part of the priestly legislation ;
in the O. S. the Tent of Meeting is set up for religious purposes outside the
Camp, under the charge of a layman, Joshua ; in the L. L. the Tabernacle is
set up in the centre of the Camp, under the charge of the whole body of
priests and Levites ; in the O.S. Jehovah descends in the pillar of cloud, and
speaks with Moses at the entrance of the Tent ; m the L.L. Jehovah speaks
from off the mercy-seat in the innermost recess of the Tabernacle ; in the O. S.
the Ark goes before the people ; in the L. L. it is carried in the middle of the
host ; these differences occur in various parts of the O.S., which forms by
itself a connected story from Exodus to Joshua ; the L.L. brings forward into
special prominence Aaron and his priesthood ; the O. S. nowhere speaks of
him as priest, but treats him merely as a colleague of Moses, as does also the
prophet Micah, whereas the very late Books of Chronicles, &c, follow the
lead of the L. L. ; the priestly interpolations in the story of Dathan and
Abiram, which contained originally no mention of Korah and his rebellion
against Aaron, as appears from Deuteronomy ; the probable historical meaning
of this narrative in its older and later forms ; the tendency to take refuge in
ritualism from the power of truth exemplified in Israel alter the Captivity and
in our own times.

THE LATER LEGISLATION COMPARED WITH THE
ORIGINAL STORY.

■E have been considering the evidence afforded of
the very late origin of the Levitical Law, by the
mode in which the Deuteronomist treats the
question of the priesthood, showing that that Law
with its phrase, ' the sons of Aaron ' instead of ' the sons of
Levi/ and its far more liberal provision for the support of the
priests and Levites, could not have been known to him, or, in
other words, could not have been composed till after his time,
during or after the Captivity. 1

Let us turn now to another no less convincing proof of
this fact. You will remember the account in the Book of
Exodus of Moses going up into the Mount with Joshua, 2 and
remaining there in communion with JEHOVAH for forty days
and forty nights 3 — at the end of which it is added, ' And He
gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing
with him on Mount Sinai, two tables of stone, tables of the
Testimony, written with the finger of Elohim.' 4 And this
notice is immediately preceded by six chapters, which con-
tain minute directions, said to have been communicated by
Jehovah to Moses, for the construction of the Taber" e'e

p. '91-4-

2 E.xxiv. 13-15.

v. 18.

200 THE LATER LEGISLATION

and its vessels. 5 Was this a portion of the Original Story, or
was it introduced as part of these later insertions ? That
Tabernacle was to be a gorgeous Tent, with magnificent
curtains, 6 golden taches, 7 silver sockets, 8 and bars overlaid
with gold, 9 and a hanging for the door of ' blue and purple
and scarlet and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.' I0
But, if this was to be the case, how was it that in Eli's time
the House of God at Shiloh, supposed to have been this very
same Mosaic Tent, which had been set up at that place by
Joshua, 11 when 'the land had rest* after the conquest of
Canaan, 12 had ' doorposts ' 13 and ' doors ' ? M Or how was it, if
this splendid Tabernacle was still in existence, that the Ark,
when brought back by the Philistines after the death of Eli,
was not restored at once to it, as the place expressly provided
by Jehovah Himself for its reception, but was allowed to re-
main for twenty years or more in the house of a private in-
dividual, whose son was ' sanctified to keep it ' lft —apparently
a mere layman, or, if a Levite, as some suppose, yet as such
strictly forbidden by the Levitical Law to touch or even to
look upon the Ark on pain of death ? 16 How was it again
that when David brought up the Ark to Jerusalem, instead of
bringing with it the gorgeous Tabernacle, he himself erected
a Tent for it on Mount Zion ? ,7 All these phenomena make
it plain that no such Tabernacle ever really existed, and that
this portion also of Exodus is no part of the Original Story,
but has been inserted by later writers ; and accordingly we find
that two of these six chapters are mainly employed in de-
scribing the dresses of the priests and the ceremonies to be
used at their consecration. 18

A further consideration will leave no doubt on this point.
We are told that, as Moses came down from the Mount with

• E.xxv-xxxi. 17. • E.xxvi. . T v.1-5. • 7'.6. • v. 19-25.

•• *'.29. u r.31. li J.xviii. i. " iS.i.9. u iS.iii. 15.

14 iS.vii.1,2. I# N.iv. 15,20. ,T 2S.vi.17. »• E.xxviii,xxix.

COMPARED WITH THE ORIGIXAL STORY. 201

the two stone-tables in his hand, he beheld the Golden Calf
and the people dancing around it, and in anger and horror at
the sight he dashed the tables out of his hands and broke
them in pieces. 19 Then the Levites at his summons — that is,
the men of his own tribe w — rush through the Camp of Israel
from one end to the other, slaughtering all they meet ' And
there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to-day to Jehovah,
even every man upon his son and upon his brother, that He
may bestow upon you a blessing this day.' 21 What that
blessing most probably was we shall consider hereafter. 23 But
now Moses intercedes for the people, and after being plagued
they are forgiven ; M at all events, the order is issued for the
forward march to Canaan. ** Then follows this remarkable
passage : — ' And Moses took the tent, and pitched it outside
the Camp, a little way off from the Camp, and it was called
[the Tabernacle of the Congregation, or rather, as it should
be more properly rendered, 25 ] the Tent of Meeting. And it
came to pass that everyone seeking JEHOVAH went out unto
the Tent of Meeting which was outside the Camp. And it
came to pass, when Moses went out of fhe Camp, that all the
people arose, and they stood each at the opening of his tent,
and they looked after Moses until he went into the Tent
And it came to pass, when Moses had gone into the Tent,
that the pillar of cloud came down and stood at the opening
of the Tent, and He spake with Moses. And all the people
saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the Tent ;
and all the people arose and worshipped, each at the
entrance of his tent. And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses face
unto face, as a man speaketh unto his friend ; and he re-
turned unto the Camp, and his servant Joshua, a young man,
departed not out of the Tent.' 26

19 E.xxxii.15-19. -° K.ii.1-10. « E.xxxii.26 29. « Lcct.XVII.

33 E.xxxii.30 35. ** E.xxxiii.i. -» B. CM. p. 382,410, 432. * E!xxxiii.7-u.

202 THE LATER LEGISLATION

Now here we have several things to notice. This tent,
which Moses pitched outside the Camp, was, of course, not
the Tabernacle, which (according to the story as it now lies
before us) he had only just been instructed to make, and
which, in fact, he makes in a subsequent chapter. 27 But it is
here called ' the tent/ as if it were a tent well known to the
people, that is, as the New Commentary explains it, 'very
probably the one in which Moses was accustomed to dwell/ *®
and to which the people may be supposed to have resorted
before, for judicious and religious purposes. 29 This tent he
now sets apart for sacred uses, and calls it the ' Tent of
Meeting/ the very name by which, in those preceding chapters
the splendid Tabernacle, presently to be built, is called re-
peatedly by JEHOVAH Himself, 30 expressly because there He
would ' meet with Israel.' 81 It would be strange if Moses in
the Original Story had taken upon himself to anticipate thus
the erection of this Divinely-ordered Tabernacle, and had
given this very same name to an ordinary tent. Plainly the
fact is, that in those six chapters the later writer has merely
copied the name already used in the passage just quoted from
the Original Story.

But where is Aaron ? or where is there any sign of the ex-
istence of priests in this passage ? True, Aaron and his sons
had not yet been consecrated. 82 But they had been already
designated for the sacred office ; 83 and we might have ex-
pected that they would have been overshadowed, as it were,
with their coming glory, so that Aaron or one of his four sons,
or, at least, a body of Levites, would have been appointed
to keep continual watch in this sacred tent, rather than Joshua,
a mere layman? K l a young man, the servant of Moses.' **

*' E.xxxvi. » B.C.l.p.410. *• E.xviii.7,12,13.

■• E.xxvii.2i,xxviii.43,xxix.4,io,n,30,32,42,44,xxx. i6,i8,20,36,xxxi.7.
•» E.xxix. 42,43, xxx. 36. n L.viii. k " E.xxviii.i.

»« N.xiii.8. » E.xxxiii.u.

COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY. 203

But here also we have the Original Story, which knew nothing
of any such extraordinary dignity now or hereafter to be
attached to Aaron or to the priests ' the sons of Aaron.'

Again, this tent is set up outside the Camp, and all who
desired to enquire of JEHOVAH went out to it But the
splendid Tabernacle was to be set up in the very middle of the
Camp, the three Levite families being posted on three sides
of it, on the north, south, and west, 36 and Moses himself, with
Aaron and his sons, on the east, 37 and outside these the twelve
tribes ranged in four great camps, 33 the whole forming appa-
rently one immense square, with the Tabernacle in the
centre.

Once more, in this passage JEHOVAH descends in the pillar
of cloud and stands at the opening of the Tent, and there
speaks with Moses. But in the preceding chapters Jehovah
promises that He will commune with Moses ' from above the
mercy-seat, from between the two cherubs which are upon the
Ark of the Testimony ' 39 — that is, from the Holy of Holies,
in the innermost part of the Tabernacle, and not at the
entrance. Accordingly, the Book of Leviticus begins, ' And
Jehovah called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the
Tent of Meeting' ; 40 and elsewhere we read, ' I will appear in
the cloud upon the mercy-seat,' 41 and again, ' And Moses
went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Jehovah, and
one heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the
mercy-seat that was upon the Ark of the Testimony.' 4 * The
two ideas, it is plain, are totally different.

Lastly, in the Levitical Law the ' cloud by day ' or the
4 appearance of fire by night ' rests always upon the Taber-
nacle in the centre of the Camp when they are at rest ; 4S and,
when they arc to be moved forward, it is ' taken up from the

M N.i.53,iii.23,29,35. " N.iii.38. w N.ii.2,3, 10, 18,25.

3 * K.xxv.22. *° L.i.i. 4I L.xvi.2.

42 N.vii.89. «• N.ix.15,16,18,19,20,22.

204 THE LATER LEGISLATION

Tent/ 44 and is meant apparently to float over it still, as it is
carried in advance of the Ark in the middle of the host, 45
until the next resting-place is reached, when it drops again
upon the Tabernacle. But in the Original Story the pillar of
cloud descends when Jehovah will speak with Moses ; 46 and
the pillar ' of cloud by day ' or ' fire by night ' goes before them
when they march, 47 and the Ark itself leads the way, 'to
search out a resting-place for them. , 48

To a thoughtful reader of the Bible these contradictory
statements must often have seemed very perplexing, especially
if he had observed that, long after the Tabernacle has been
duly set in the centre of the Camp, once and again in the
Book of Numbers, the ' Tent of Meeting ' is spoken of as
pitched outside the Camp, as here, and it is necessary to go otit
to it ; 49 while in each of these two passages, as well as in
another towards the end of Deuteronomy, Jehovah comes
down in the pillar of cloud, as here, and stands at the entrance
of the Tent, and speaks with Moses. 50 Of course, the expla-
nation is, that these three passages are all portions of the
Original Story, as appears plainly enough when it is taken out
by itself, like the Elohistic Narrative, and then is found to
form a connected whole, from the beginning of Exodus to the
end of Deuteronomy, or rather, to the end of the Book of
Joshua. 51 For the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua form
parts of one work, and in this last-named Book, as well as the
rest, we find portions of the Original Story, retouched by
the Deuteronomist in his marked prophetical style, 52 and
afterwards filled up by the priestly writers of the Levitical
Law. 53

44 v.ii. 4 * N.x. 17,21.

** E.xxxiii.9. 41 E.xiiL2i, 22, xiv. 19,24, N.x.34.

*• N.x. 33. * N.xi.26,30,xii.4.

" N.xi.i7,25,xii.5,io, D.xxxi.15. *• App. II.

*» i.3-i8,iii.2-4,io,iv.24,v.2-8,vii.7-9, viii.30-35, x. 12-14, xxi.43-45, xxii. 1-6,
xxiii,xxiv. 1-25,31.

** iv.13,19, v. 10-12, vi. 19,24b, vii. 1,25c, ix. 15b, 1 7-2 1, 2 7b, xi.21-23, xii.1-24,
xiii.2ib,22,23,xiv.l-i5,xvii.3-6,xix.5i l xxi. I -42, xxii. 8-34, xxiv. 26, 2 7, 33.

COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY. 205

I have thus tried to give you some idea of the Later or
Levitical Legislation, which takes up so large a space in the
Pentateuch, no less than two-thirds of Exodus, Leviticus, and
Numbers, and which is plainly to be distinguished from the
other parts of those books by its own peculiar phraseology, as
well as by the subjects it treats of. The consideration of the
style belongs, of course, to critical works: 54 but it may
interest you if I draw your attention more closely to some of
the contents.

We saw in the last Lecture that the priesthood, with its
rights, duties, and prerogatives, — the paramount sanctity and
dignity of the priests above that of their servants, the Levites,
for whom a more moderate provision is made, — and the
exaltation of both these orders of clergy above the laity, —
engross a very large portion of this Levitical Law. The
effort to bring into greater prominence the activity of Aaron,
as the head of the future Aaronic priesthood, is strikingly
exhibited in the account of the ten plagues, where several
insertions are made, 55 apparently with this express object in
view. In the Original Story it is Moses who invariably takes
the leading part, who is to be ' as God to Aaron} w who per-
forms miracles with his rod. 57 But in these later insertions
Moses is to be 'as God to Pharaoh} M and Jehovah orders
Moses, ' Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod and it shall become
a [serpent or] crocodile/ w and so in other instances. 60 In
the Original Story Jehovah speaks to Moses only ; 61 in the
later insertions Jehovah speaks to Moses and Aaron. 6 * In
the Original Story Jehovah summons Aaron and his two

M Sec Tent. VI.

•» E.vi.6-8, 10-30, vii. 1-13,19, 20a, 22, viii. 5-7, 15-19, ix.8-12,35, xi.9,10, xii.
1-28,40-51, xiv.8, xvi.ib,2-36, xix. 1,20-25, xxiv.16,17, xxv.1-xxxi.17, xxxiv.28,
'the Ten Words/ 33-35, xxxv-xl.

M E.iv.16. n E.iv.2,3,vii. 15, i7,2ob,ix.22,23,x. 12, 13,21,22.

* E.vii.i: *• E.vii.9,io,i2. •• E.viii.5,6,16,17.

•' E.vii.i4,viii,i,20,ix. I,i3,22,x.i,i2,2i,xi.i,xiii.i,xiv.i, &c.

••' E.vi.13, vii.8, ix.8, xii.1,43, comp. L.xi.i, xiii.i, xiv.33,xv.i, N.ii.i, iv.1,17,
xi v. 26, x vi. 20, xix. 1 , xx. 1 2, xxvi. I .

2o6 THE LATER LEGISLATION

sons with seventy of the elders of Israel, to come to the foot
of the Mount with Moses, 63 where the privilege in question is
made common to all these seventy-three persons. But the
priestly writer inserts a command for Aaron alone to go up
with Moses, 64 a command, however, which is nowhere carried
out. In the Original Story Aaron figures conspicuously only
on two occasions, and then not at all with credit to himself —
first, in the affair of the Golden Calf, 65 next on the occasion
where Aaron and Miriam 'speak against Moses,' saying,
' Hath Jehovah indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He
not spoken also by us ? ' and both are severely rebuked by
JEHOVAH, and Miriam is smitten with leprosy. 66 In the
later insertions once indeed Moses and Aaron together
provoke JEHOVAH by a fit of impatience, 67 for which they are
doomed never to set their feet upon the soil of Canaan. 68
But everywhere Aaron stands in the foreground of the picture
almost as much as Moses, and himself receives Divine com-
munications without the intervention or even the presence of
Moses. 69 In short, in the Original Story Aaron throughout
appears not as a priest at all, but merely as a subordinate
colleague of Moses, 70 apparently a fellow-leader with Moses and
Miriam. 71 And so says the prophet Micah, ' I brought thee
out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house
of servants, and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam ' ; 72 and this is the only passage in all the prophetical
books in which Aaron is even mentioned. It may be noticed
also that in the priestly insertions, though Aaron indeed, as
also Eleazar, his son and successor, is ranked after Moses, yet
Eleazar is always placed before Joshua, the ecclesiastical
before the civil chief. 73

•• E.xxiv.1,9. «« E.xix.24. •» E.xxxii. 1-5,21-25.

«« N.xii. « N.xx.io.

M N.xx.i2,24,xxvii,i2-I4, D.xxxii.48-52. m N.xviii. 1,8,20.

•• E.iv. 1 4- 1 6, 2 7-30, v. 1,4,20, viii.8, 12,25, ix.27, x.3,8, 16, xviii. 12, xxiv. 1,9, 14,
xxxii. 1,5, N.xiii.26. Tl E.xv.20, N.xii. " Mic.vi.4.

'• N. xxxii. 28, xxxiv. 17, J.xiv. I,xvii.4,xix. 5i,xxi. 1.

COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY. 207

It would seem therefore, as I have said, that Aaron owes
his fame as a priest entirely to his priestly Legislation, written
during or after the Captivity. Accordingly he is never even
named in the two Books of Kings, composed by Jeremiah,
himself a priest, before the Captivity ; and it is mentioned that
Jeroboam 'made priests from all parts of the people, who
were not of the sons of Levi' 74 — it is not said, ' who were not
of the sons of Aarcm.' So, too, in his prophecies, as observed
in the last Lecture, 75 Jeremiah speaks only of ' the priests the
Levites,' as does his brother priest Ezekiel, the latter also
calling the faithful priests ' the sons of Zadok.' On the other
hand, in the Books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah,
written long after the Captivity, when the Levitical Law had
become a recognized part of the Pentateuch, Aaron takes his
place of honour as the head of the priesthood, 76 and the
Levites are everywhere distinguished from the priests, 77 and
stand in due subordination to the ' sons of Aaron.' 78

But perhaps the most striking instance of the manner in
which these later priestly writers have modified the older
narrative in order to support the claims of the priesthood, is
afforded by the account of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and
Abiram, as it now lies before us in N.xvi, xvii. The story is
familiar to you all, as having been annually read in the
Sunday Lessons. It tells us how ' Korah son of Izhar, son of
Kohath, son of Levi/ and Dathan and Abiram, sons of
Reuben, 79 ' gathered themselves together against Moses and
against Aaron,' being supported by a formidable band of

u 1K.xii.31. 7 » p.i93-

70 iCh.vi.3,49,5o,xii.27,xv.4,xxiii. I3,28,32,xxiv. i,i9,3i,xxvii. 17. 2Ch.xiii.9,
io,xxvi. i8,xxix.2i,xxxi. I9,xxxv. 14, Ezr.vii.5, Neh.x.38,xii.47.

" eg. iCh.ix.2, 2CI1.V.12, Ezr.vi. 18.viii.i5, Neh.x.38,xiii.5.

'* iCh.vi.48,49,xxiii.27,28, 2Ch.viii. I4,xxix. i6,xxxv. 11, Neh.xii.47.

" N.xvi. I : as nothing more is said about * On son of Peleth ' in this story or
in any of the other places where this rebellion is mentioned (N.xxvi.9, D.xi.6,
Ps.cvi. 17), it is probable that there has been here some mistake in copying, and
that * Peleth ' is a corruption for * Pallu,' so that the passage should run * Dathan
and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of Pallu, son of Reuben. '

2oS THE LATER LEGISLATION

Levites and laymen 80 — how Moses uttered an indignant
rebuke to the ambitious Levites, ' Hear, I pray you, ye sons
of Levi ! Is it little for you that the God of Israel has
separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring
you near to Himself, to do the service of the Tabernacle of
Jehovah, and to stand before the Congregation to minister
unto them ? Yea, he hath brought thee near and all thy
brethren the sons of Levi with thee : and seek ye the priest-
hood also ? ' 81 — how in the end the earth opened her mouth
and swallowed up Dathan and Abiram and their families, 82
while Korah and his company of incense-bearers were struck
dead by lightning, 83 and then the warning is given that none
but those of the seed of Aaron should presume to offer
incense on pain of similar destruction 84 — how the people
murmured against Moses and Aaron for the doom which had
overtaken their fellows, 85 and a plague broke out, which was
stopped by the act of Aaron, who ' ran and put on incense
and made an atonement for the people, and he stood between
the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed ' 86 — how
after this Moses by Divine Command took twelve rods for
the twelve tribes, and laid them up before JEHOVAH in the
Tabernacle, and in the morning ' lo ! the rod of Aaron for the
House of Levi ' budded and blossomed 8T — and how this ' rod
of Aaron that budded ' was ordered to be kept as a token
against the rebels, 88 and the terrified people exclaimed, ' Lo !
we die ! we perish ! we all perish ! whosoever cometh at all
near unto the Tabernacle of Jehovah shall die : shall we be
consumed with dying ? ' 89 Then in the next chapter the
priests and Levites are introduced as bearing in their different
degrees this awful burden of approaching the Sanctuary on
behalf of their lay brethren, 90 ' that there be no more wrath

" v-2,7-

81 v.8-10.

« v. 32-34.

« v.35.

M V.40.

•* v.41.

•» f.47,48-

97 N.xvii.i-8.

•• N.xvii.iO.

• Z/.I2,I3.

■• N.xviii.1-7.

COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY. 209

upon the children of Israel/ ' and the stranger that cometh
nigh shall be put to death/ 91 And after this abundant
supplies are secured for the priests and Levites from the sacri-
fices, firstlings, firstfruits, and vows and tithes ; 9 * and so the
priesthood, with its servants the Levites, is not only esta-
blished, but richly endowed in Israel, not by human laws, but
on the direct authority of Jehovah Himself!

Now out of all this legislation in the interest of the priests
not one word belongs to the Original Story, which spoke only
of the rebellion of Dathah and Abiram against Moses, and
made no mention at all of Korah, or of Aaron and the rights
of the priesthood. This appears at once from the manner in
which the Deuteronomist refers to this affair — ' and what He
did unto Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of Reuben,
how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up, and
their households and their tents, and all the substance that
was in their possession in the midst of all Israel/ 98 You see
that nothing is here said about Korah, or the two hundred
and fifty men, ' princes of the Assembly, famous in the Con-
gregation, men of renown/ w who were burnt with ' fire from
Jehovah/ 95 In fact, the Original Story records a lay rebel-
lion against Moses, the leader and ruler chosen by Jehovah,
the idea of which was perhaps suggested by the rebellious
feelings entertained by the Ten Tribes towards the House of
David and the supremacy of Judah from the first, especially
in the time of David himself, 96 during which this passage was
probably written. And this story, as it lay before the eye9
of the Deuteronomist, can still be taken out as a complete
consistent narrative, 97 leaving behind Korah, and Aaron, and
all the priestly elements, which have been added in a totally
different style and phraseology, viz. that which marks
throughout the Later Legislation. # And, no doubt, these in-

•' ^-3,4,5,7- M v.8-32. V D.xi.6. •• N.xvi.2. •» v.35. '

94 2S.ii.8,9,iii.i,xix.43,xx.i,2, 1 K.xii. 16-20,28. •' See App.W.

2io THE LATER LEGISLATION

sertions tell us indirectly of some fierce struggle of the leading
Levitical families against the claims of the priesthood to lord
it over them, on the return from the Captivity.

Thus the driest details of the Levitical Law, rightly under-
stood, become invested with real historical interest and
meaning for us, though they reveal to us the history of times
far later than those of Moses and the Exodus. But certainly
the result of these enquiries makes the patent peculiarity of
the Jewish history, the cessation of the prophetical spirit after
the Captivity, intelligible and highly instructive, instead of its
being, as it used to appear, while it was supposed that the
Levitical system had all along coexisted with the prophets,
an unaccountable mystery. That the free utterance of the
Spirit of God should have been stifled beneath the mass of
minute ritualism imposed by the Later Legislation in the
name of God, is very conceivable. But how remarkable is
this phenomenon, and how instructive! For centuries we
find the great prophets of Israel struggling to deliver their
countrymen from slavery to the Sun-Gods and other 4 Lords '
with their bloody and licentious rites ; they succeed at last
with the aid of the Babylonish Captivity: a race of pure
jEHOVAH-worshippers returns to Jerusalem : and lo ! their
first act is to enslave the minds of their descendants beneath
the yoke of priestly ordinances, from which it required the
teaching of Jesus, and the irruption of the Gentile world into
the fold of the Church through the breach which St. Paul
made in the name of Jesus, to save men's minds : and the seed
of the rescued have employed their freedom in erecting a new
set of prison-walls for the spirit of man under the sanction of
the Church ! And now, when our martyred Reformers have
laid down their lives to secure for us the enjoyment of that
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free as children of God,
the priestly spirit is at work again, to quench, if possible, the
light of Science, to suppress the Truth, and to bring back the

COMPARED WITH THE ORIGINAL STORY. 211

pernicious system which we thought had been banished from
our Church for ever !

The truth is, that the ritualistic system is for not a few of
its votaries, clergy and laity, but a means of escaping from
the duty which is laid upon us of pondering solemnly those
great questions which occupy — and in God's good Provi-
dence were meant to occupy — the present age. It may avail
as a temporary expedient, in a time of transition like this, to
bjock out anxious thought upon such questions, and may
help to fill up in some measure the vacuum which would
otherwise exist in the minds of many, who live in ignorance
of the grand results of scientific enquiry on this and other
domains, and who are content to do so, rather than be troubled
with 'doubts' which they have been taught by their reli-
gious directors to regard as ' sins ' — as sparks of hellish fire,
to be stamped out as if proceeding from the fuse of a ' loaded
shell shot into the fortress of the soul ' 98 by the Great Enemy,
when in reality they were signs of a Divine Fire, which has
been kindled in our midst in these days by the Spirit of God,
as in the days of the First Reformation. But this state of
things can only last for a while. By degrees the light and
life, which are God's precious gifts to the present age, will
penetrate into every corner of Society. And, as surely as the
Earth's motion around the Sun, though once condemned as
heretical and blasphemous, is now recognised as a fact to be
taught as elementary knowledge in the commonest village-
school, so before long will the non-Mosaic origin and the un-
historical character of the whole Pentateuchal story, together
with the very late date of the Levitical Legislation, be re-
garded as established facts in Biblical Instruction, in the
Pulpit and the Sunday-school — through the very touch of
which the whole foundation of the priestly and ritualistic
system crumbles at once into dust.

•• Bp. W ILBERFORCE.

P 2

LECTURE XVI.

SUMMARY.

The L.L. enforces with like severity the paramount sanctity of the priesthood
and a minute ritualism, and especially enjoins the observance of the sabbath
before any sabbath-law had been given ; this severity more apparent than real,
as shown in the account of the slaughter of the Midianites ; the L. L. repeats
incidents of the O. S. ; it makes a pretence of strict historical accuracy, as in
the numberings of the people ; it makes an absurdly extravagant provision for
the three priests and their families, as also for the Levites ; the Levitical
cities never existed ; the Day of Atonement was unknown before the Captivity ;
the Sabbatical year, as prescribed in the L.L., a mistaken perversion of the
original institution, was not observed till after the Captivity, and the Jubilee
never at all ; the New Bible Commentary evades the difficulty by ascribing
such laws to Moses, not to Jehovah.

THE LATE DATE OF THE LEVITICAL LEGISLA-
TION.

*E have seen that the priestly writers of the Levitical
Law were very zealous in advancing the interests
of their order, and never hesitate to secure their
dignity and their emoluments by appeals to
Divine injunctions, and Divine judgments for neglect or dis-
regard of them. Now and then, indeed, a warning is given
to the priests themselves, as when Nadab and Abihu, the
eldest sons of Aaron, are struck by lightning for offering
incense with unhallowed fire, 1 when apparently in a state of
intoxication, since it follows immediately — 'And JEHOVAH
spake unto Aaron saying, Drink no wine nor strong drink,
thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the Tent of
Meeting, lest ye die/ * But elsewhere these same threats are
used to enforce the sanctity of the priests above the Levites,*
and of both above the laity, 4 or else to punish a number of
most trivial, as well as more serious, offences against the
ritual law. Thus the doom of death or of excommunication
is pronounced against any who should 'compound any
ointment like the holy ointment, or put any of it upon a
stranger/ ft or ' make any scent like the holy perfume/ 6 or eat

1 L.X.1,2.

4 N.l5i,xviii.22.

* r.8,9.

• E. xxx. 33.

■ N.iii. 10,38, xvi. 40.
• r.38.

216 THE LATE DATE OF

of the sacrifices being unclean, 7 as by touching for instance a
dead snail. 8 In this Law also the Sabbath is enforced with
very strict injunctions, 9 and in one place before any Sabbath-
law had been given ; I0 just as Aaron is said to have 4 laid up
a pot of manna before the Testimony/ " when as yet no Ark
or Testimony existed, and no hint had been given about
Aaron's priesthood, or just as Moses under Sinai is made to
order the 'priests that come near to Jehovah' to 'sanctify .
themselves, lest JEHOVAH break forth upon them/ 12 when as
yet there were no such priests, but ' young men of the children
of Israel ' offered sacrifices, 18 and a ' young man, Joshua, the
servant of Moses/ kept watch and slept in the Tent of
Meeting. 14 Moreover, the violation of the Sabbath by doing
any kind of work, such as lighting a fire, was by this Law to
be punished with death ; la and the decree in this case is en-
forced by the example of a man being stoned, by express
command of Jehovah, for ' gathering sticks on the Sabbath-
day/ 16 This passage, however, is shown to be one of the
very latest insertions in the Pentateuch, not merely by its
general agreement in style and language with the other portions
of this Levitical Legislation, but expressly by its close reserti-
blance to another passage, where a man is in like manner
stoned for blaspheming ' the Name ' 17 — not ' the name of
JEHOVAH/ but simply « the Name ' 18 — an expression used by
superstitious Jews in later times to avoid mention of the
Divine Name ; as the Greek translators always substitute for
Jehovah the expression ' the Lord/ which has been copied in
the later Vulgate, and unfortunately retained in our English
Version. But it is plain that all this severity, like that in
Deuteronomy against the nations in Canaan, 19 is more appa^

* L.vii.20. • L.xi.29-31. • E.xxxi. 12-17.

'• E.xvi.22-30. " z',34. !2 E.xJx.22,24.

11 E.xxiv.5. i4 E.xxxiij.ll. ,s E. xxxv. 1-3.

1# N. xv. 32-36. '* L.xxiv. 10-16. '• p. 11, 16. ,9 p. 178-9.

THE LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 217

rent than real, and is intended merely to deter from the com-
mission of such offences — with this difference, however, that
the Deuteronomist, in the true spirit of a prophet, wishes to
prevent the Israelites from taking part in the debasing idola-
tries of heathen worship, which militated with inward purity
of heart, whereas the Levitical Law denounces chiefly breaches
of mere ceremonial law, which, according to priestly notions,
interfered with the observance of the command ' Be ye holy,
for I am holy.' *°

For instance, when the priestly writer tells us that 12,000
Israelites ' avenged Jehovah on Midian ' ai by killing in
battle 88,000 warriors, and then butchering in cold blood
88,000 women and girls and 32,000 boys, carrying off also as
slaves 32,000 young female children, 29 he apparently feels no
horror or compunction at recording these facts, but coolly
describes the deliberate massacre of so many thousand
defenceless persons as a religious act. He is anxious, how-
ever, that the booty taken in cattle and slaves shall be pro-
perly divided, the priests and Levites getting, of course, their
shares, 23 including 'Jehovah's tribute* of 32 young female
slaves for the priests, 24 as also that the chief actors in the
affair shall be duly ' cleansed ' — 'Abide ye in the Camp seven
days ; whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath
touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on
the third day and on the seventh day ; and ye shall wash your
clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterwards ye
shall come into the Camp.' M Happily, this frightful butchery,
exceeding infinitely in atrocity the tragedy at Cawnpore, has
been carried out only on paper. Still it shows how the
writer's mind must have been warped and corrupted, that he

*• L.xi. 44,45. * l N.xxxi.3.

n v.7, 17, 18,35 : 32,000 young girls — say under 15 years— imply at least 8,000
females under 20, and 80,000 over 20, that is, 88,000 women and full-grown
girls, and consequently 88,000 men and full-grown youths, and 32,000 boys.
n N.xxxi.25-30. u f. 40,41. » v. 19,24.

2i8 THE LATE DATE OF

could even compose such a narrative as this, without being
sensible of the violence done by it to our best feelings as men,
unless indeed our own minds, as the result of long-continued
traditionary teaching, have been warped and corrupted
also. But he further assures us, in utter defiance of reason
and common-sense, that all this was done, and 800,000 head
of cattle carried off, by 12,000 Israelites without the loss of a
single man * 6 — not one of the 80,000 warriors having struck a
death-blow in defence of his life and all he held dear on earth
— not one even of the 88,000 women and girls or 32,000
boys having struck down one of the murderers, who had
killed their parents and children, husbands and brothers and
sisters, and were now about to butcher themselves. And he
tells us that the captains brought, as a thank-offering for this
immunity, a magnificent present for the Sanctuary, 'jewels
of gold, chains and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets/ ' to
make atonement for their souls/ v It is surely time in this age of
the world that the true account of this matter should be clearly
given, instead of attempting to defend this narrative as real
history, as the New Commentary does by saying — 4 No doubt,
a general license to slay at pleasure could hardly have been
given without demoralising those employed. But the com-
mission of the Israelites in the text must not be so conceived.
They had no discretion to kill or spare. They were bidden
to exterminate without mercy, and brought back to their task
when they showed signs of flinching/ n

Whenever, in fact, the priestly writer steps out of his favourite
beaten track of mere ritualistic legislation and passes into
narrative, his stories have oftei} a gloomy — even at times a
savage — character,* 9 very different from the life-like spirited
sketches of the Jehovist ; and they show, moreover, great
sameness and poverty of invention. Thus, instead of intro-

** 7 '-5.49- ** v. 50-54. w AC, I. p. 766.

29 L.x.i,2,xxiv. 10-16, N.xv.32-36,xvi.35-5o f xxv.6-l5,xxxi.

THE LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 219

ducing new incidents, he merely repeats before the arrival at
Sinai the accounts of the manna and the quails, 30 using some-
times the very words of the older writer at a later point of the
wanderings, 31 and introducing here, as I have said, the Ark
and the priesthood of Aaron out of their proper place, 39 so
betraying at once the unhistorical character of his additions.
And in other instances his own statements help very much to
betray this, and thus to undo in some measure the evil of his
work, as we have just seen in the case of the exaggerated
account of the slaughter of the Midianites. But so, too, in
numbering the people, the priestly writer shows a deliberate
purpose to give to his statements an appearance of strict his-
torical accuracy. The Original Story had spoken of the host
of Israel as consisting of ' about 600,000 men besides women
and children' M — an enormous number truly, which implies an
entire population of about three millions ; and since there
-were in the wilderness no upper and lower stories, no garrets
or underground cellars, none of the appliances for crowding
which a great city provides, but all lived upon the ground in
tents, the whole encampment would have covered about the
same area as London. And, of course, the question would
immediately arise as to how such a vast population could
have found wood and water in the barren waste, or pasture
for their innumerable flocks and herds, if they themselves
were fed all along on manna — though the story seems not to
have contemplated this, but only to mean that manna was
afforded on two separate occasions. 34 Above all, after the
well-known experience of only 20,000 at the Diamond Fields,
with a splendid river within their reach, we might well ask
how this immense Camp, without any sewage arrangements
and with very scanty supplies of water, could have kept free
from pollution and fever. In short, a multitude of such

99 E.xvi. *» v.i 3b, 14,31, comp. N.xi.7,8b,9.

^•33»34- M E.xii.37, N.xi.21. ** E,xvi, N.xi.4-9.

220 THE LATE DATE OF

questions might be asked, and have been asked, and the diffi-
culty of replying to them has been so great that one Com-
mentator has been driven to the necessity of suggesting that
for 600,000 we should read 60,000, when ' all would be clear,
every numerical difficulty worth thinking of would vanish at
once ' ; though he adds in a note on the very same page,
' Notwithstanding the admitted difficulty of the large numbers,
it is very questionable whether the difficulties would not be
greater on the supposition that the number were very much
less ' ? 8 *

But it may be fairly assumed that this sum-total of 600,000
warriors was only set down hastily, without due consideration
of the consequences, by one who was recording an imaginary
story, but had probably no idea of teaching it as actual
historical fact. It is very different when we turn to the priestly
writer, and find that, not content with the number as origi-
nally given, ' about 600,000', he has defined the total accurately
as 603,5 SO, 86 dividing ft carefully among the twelve tribes;
though, strangely enough, the number for each tribe is given
as so many round hundreds?' 1 except one with an odd fifty, 38
and, still more strangely, the number of the whole host is
identically the same as he represents it to have been six
months previously, 89 as if the number of warriors who had
become full-grown in the interval had exactly equalled the
number of those who had passed beyond the military age or
died ! But he is not even content with this. He records
another numbering thirty-eight years afterwards, at the end of
the wanderings, where the separate numbers for the different
tribes are all, as before, round hundreds?* except one with an
odd thirty, 41 and are most artificially constructed, six tribes
having more than 50,000 at each numbering, and six less,

" Bp. Browne {Eloh. Psalms, p.26.) M N.i.46,ii.32.

91 N.i.2i,23,27,&c. *» v.2$. n E.xxxviii.26.

40 N.xxvi. I4,i8,22,&c. * l v.j.

THE LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 221

some being increased in the interval and some diminished, but
so that the total is nearly the same on the second occasion as
on the first, viz. 601,730," implying that, through a Divine
judgment for their offences, the population, instead of increas-
ing, had slightly diminished in the wilderness.

So, again, the prodigious provision made for the support
of the priesthood — the breast and the hind-leg of all the
peace-offerings, the whole of the sin-offerings and trespass-
offerings, except the suet burnt upon the altar, all of the
meal-offerings except a handful burnt as a memorial, all the
firstfruits, all the firstlings, all the votive offerings, and one-
tenth of all the tithes, 43 from a population like that of LONDON,
having vast multitudes of sheep and oxen, 44 is made — for
whom ? — for just three priests, Aaron and his sons, 45 Eleazar
and Ithamar, and their families, these two having been in-
troduced by the priestly writer, 46 apparently to supply the
place of Nadab and Abihu killed (according to him), by
lightning, 47 Aaron having only these two sons in the Original
Story, 48 , as Moses also had only two sons. 49 For instance,
the ' sin-offerings ' were to be eaten only by the males ' in the
most holy place ' ; 60 and the pigeons or turtle-doves alone, to
be brought as sin-offerings for the birth of children 51 for
three millions of people, would have averaged about 250 a
day, 52 or more than 96,000 annually, and all to be eaten by
three priests ' in the most holy place ' ! — to say nothing about
the possibility of such numbers of pigeons or turtle-doves
having been obtained in the wilderness. It might be sup-
posed that these provisions were intended for after-time,
when the people would be settled in Canaan, and the number
of priests would be increased, though indeed there would

n v.$i. ° N.xviii.8-19,25-28. u N.xxxi. 32-34, xxxii. 1.

* N.xviii.8 f E.vi.23. ^ ** E.xxviii.i.

47 L.x. 1,2,6, 12, 16, N.iii.2,4,xxvi. 60,61. *• E.xxiv.1,9.

E.xviii.3,4. *• N.xviii.9,10. M L.xii.6.

** The births in London for a week {limes, Sept. 3, 1862) were 1,852.

222 THE LATE DATE OF

seem to have been only three at Shiloh in Eli's time. 63 But
not a trace of such intention really appears in the narrative.
On the contrary some of the Levitical Laws are introduced
with the words * When ye be come into the land of Canaan/ 54
and are thus expressly distinguished from the rest of that
legislation ; while in others the ' Camp ' is mentioned,* 5 im-
plying therefore that they were meant to be put in force in
the wilderness. In short, the unhistorical character of these
laws is self-evident: they are merely insertions of later
priestly writers.

So, too, the Levites, numbered as 22,000 males of all ages, 56
implying about 12,000 adults, are to have the tithes of
600,000 Israelites ; 57 so that each single Levite, without his
own labour or that of his family, was to receive as much as
five Israelites obtained by their daily toil ! — except a tenth
which was to go to the three priests, 58 each of whom, there-
fore, was to receive as much as four hundred Levites, or two
thousand Israelites ! ! Here, again, the unhistorical character
of this legislation is obvious, in spite of the argument which
has been urged that ' tithes are never paid punctiliously, and
were then without doubt paid with just as little Conscientious-
ness as now, when the tithe-owners often scarcely receive the
twentieth.' 59 But this is represented not as a human law,
but as a Divine Command, which was meant to be religiously
obeyed.

Once more, in the Levitical Law, forty-eight cities with
their suburbs are assigned to the Levites, 60 of which thirteen
— that is, about a fourth of the whole — are given to the ' sons
of Aaron the priests ' 61 — out of all proportion, of course, to
their relative numbers, wfiich were as one to 4,000 ; nor is it

M 1 S.ii. 12-17,34. M L.xiv.34,xix.23,xxiii.io,xxv.2, N.xv.2,i8,xxxiv.2.

M L.iv.i2,2i,vi. u,xiii.46,xiv.3,8,xvi.26,27,28,xvii.3, N.xix.3,7,9.
" N.iii.39. * T N.xviii.21-24. *» N.xviii.r. 25-28.

*• Keil, II.p.266. * N. xxxv. 1-7. «> J.xxi. 13-19.

THE LEVI TIC A L LEGISLATION. 223

easy to see what two priests and their children and grand-
children — for Eleazar was still living 62 — would have done
with thirteen cities. But, very singularly, these thirteen priestly
cities are all fixed in the territories of Judah and Benjamin,
that is, close to the site of the future Temple, conveniently
for the future priests ; and this is supposed to be done at a
time when the Temple was not even thought of, and Mount
Zion was still, and remained for centuries afterwards, in the
hands of the Jebusites, the original inhabitants of the land ! w
Moreover, we find in Deuteronomy a merciful provision that
there shall be six ' cities of refuge/ to which one who had
killed another accidentally might flee and be safe from the
avenger of blood. In his main address Moses merely directs
the people to sever three cities in Canaan itself for this
purpose, and, if their land be enlarged, to add three more,* 4
which, however, in the four chapters afterwards prefixed, the
writer inadvertently makes Moses do himself. 66 It need
hardly be said that these six 'cities of refuge/ three on
each side of the Jordan, are included by the priestly legislator
among the Levitical cities, 66 — but most abruptly, before a
word has been said as yet about the reason for which these
cities were to be set apart, which is first explained in Deutero-
nomy. It is possible that the writer really expected this
arrangement to be carried out, at least to some extent, after
the return from the Captivity. But, however this may be,
there is no sign in the history that any such cities were
ever at any time recognized in Israel ; and Nob, the ' city of
the priests ' which Saul ravaged, was not one of the Levitical
cities. 67

Nor is there any sign before the Captivity of the Day of
Atonement having been kept, the observance of which as a
day of fasting, on the tenth day of thesmenth month, is strictly

•* v.i. *• 2S.tz.6-9. •* D.xix. 1-7,8-10.

•» D.v.41-43. M N. xxxv. 6. •» 1S.xxii.19.

224 THE LATE DATE OF

required in the Levitical Law under pain of death. 68 The
Deuteronomist does not mention it, and it is plain that
Ezekiel knew nothing about it, since, while giving special
directions for the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
and the Feast of Tabernacles, 69 he appoints an atonement to
be made annually for the Sanctuary and people, very similar
to that ordered for the Day of Atonement, and perhaps
the original type of the latter, on the first and seventh days of
t/ie first month. 70 But after the Captivity we find this fasting-
day strictly observed, so as to be called simply ' the day.' 7l

The Sabbatical year is also enjoined in this Law, Jehovah
being introduced as saying, ' in the seventh year there shall
be a sabbath of rest for the land, a sabbath for Jehovah :
thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard : that
which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt
not reap, neither gather of thy undressed vine : it is a year of
rest for the land/ n What a dreary injunction must this
have been for the active husbandman, who for a whole year
would be thus compelled to absolute idleness, when all his
fellow-men in cities and towns were as busy as ever ! " But how
would the vine prosper, if left unpruned ? Or would the land
have had a ' year of rest ' from producing weeds ? The fact
is that the more ancient law, on which this is based, says
nothing about the land resting. It says only ' Six years thou
shalt sow thy land and gather its produce. And the seventh
year thou shalt let it rest and lie still ' — it, that is, the pro-
duce, not the land— 'that the poor of thy people may eat, and
what they leave' — which of itself implies a plentiful yield,
not the scanty gleanings of untilled land — ' the beasts of the
field shall eat. So shalt thou do to thy vineyard, to thine
oliveyard.' 73 This law, however, which meant that the farmer

w L.xvi.29-34,xxiii.26-32, N.xxix.7-11. •» Ez.xlv.21-25.

10 v. 18-20. T1 Joseph. ^///.XIV.xvi.4,III.x.3,Acts,xxvii.9.

n L.xxv.4,5. n E.xxiii. 10,11.

THE LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 225

should cultivate his land as usual in the seventh year, but
for the benefit of the poor and needy, seems to have been
wholly neglected in actual practice, as well as that other law
which orders that, after six years' service, every Hebrew slave
shall go free, if he will. 74 And so at last the Deuteronomist
directs that every seventh year shall be a ' year of release '
for all Hebrew debtors and slaves ; 7 * and, instead of repeating
the older law about the crops being left in the seventh year
for the use of the poor, he prescribes that every year the tithes
shall be employed for feasting, in which the poor and the
Levite shall be allowed to share. 76 This command for the
liberation of Hebrew slaves was once actually carried out in
Zedekiah's reign, 77 very probably under Jeremiah (the Deute-
ronomist)'s influence ; though he bitterly reproaches and
terribly threatens the king, the princes, and the people, for
retracing the step, and bringing back their manumitted slaves
into servitude again. 78 Perhaps they had come to understand
that the provision in Deuteronomy had no real Mosaic
authority ; though surely it was a humane and merciful law,
from whatever pen it proceeded. But the later priestly
writer changes the whole character of the original command.
'That which groweth of itself in the Sabbatical year, from
the untilled lands and unpruned vines, is not here to be left
wholly to the poor and the beasts, as before, but is to be food
for the owner and his family, and the ' sojourner/ the cattle,
and the beasts ; 79 and it is further promised that in the sixth
year the land ' shall bring forth fruit for three years/ 80 Thus
the benevolent purpose of the original institution is turned
into a mere empty show of reverence for God, the result
being that no charity whatever is here enjoined ; for the
farmer is only to give away, and that partially, the scantier
produce of the seventh year, and is to keep for himself the

u E.xxi.2-6. f » D.xv.1-18. n D.xiv.22-29. " Jer.xxxiv.8-n.

n v.w-22. n L. xxv. 6, 7. ■• v. 20-22.

226 THE LATE DATE OF

threefold produce of the sixth year, spending the seventh in
idleness unpleasing to God and unprofitable to man ! We
learn from Josephus 81 that the Sabbatical Year was kept in
this way, but only after t/ie Captivity.

The Levitical Law institutes also the ' Year of Jubilee/
that is, the fiftieth year was also to be kept as a Sabbatical
Year ; M and, perhaps, the threefold crops in every sixth year
may have been provided with a view to the Jubilee being kept
immediately after the forty-ninth year, that is, the seventh
Sabbatical Year, so that two Sabbatical Years would come
together. But there is no trace of the Jubilee having ever
been kept, before or after the Captivity.

It is painful to mark these proceedings of the later
priesthood. But, at all events, it is a blessing to have our
minds relieved from the burden of receiving such laws as the
express utterances of the Most High. The New Commentary
evades the difficulty by speaking continually as if it was only
Moses who enacted them — e.g. l The Jubilee, as instituted by
Moses, is without a parallel in the history of the world ' 83 — or
again ' It is assumed that Moses could not have foreseen that
the Sabbatical Year would be neglected ' M — or again, • Moses
knew t/te human heart, and he was acquainted with the temper
and disposition of the people. . . . The legislator knew tliat
his words would be but imperfectly obeyed! M But this is to
heap one delusion on another. These laws are represented
as Divinely given : throughout it is Jehovah ' speaking unto
Moses and saying/ ** And our duty is to look the truth in
the face, and so relieve both our own consciences from infinite
pain and perplexity, and the character of Moses himself from
the reproach which the work of these priestly writers would
otherwise fasten upon him. We now know that the whole

n Joseph. j4>//.XI.viii.6,XIV.x.6,xvi.2,XV.i.2, comf. iMacc.vi.49,53.
•* L.xxv.8-12. M B.C.I.p.ftf. ■« /^.p.640.

•» /^.p.643. " L.i.i,iv.i,v.i4,&c.

THE LEVITICAL LEGISLATION. 227

ritualistic legislation, with its 'multiplied ordinances, 'Touch
not, taste not, handle not/ 87 is but the ' commandment and
doctrine of men/ M of fallible men, like ourselves, but of men
possessed by the priestly spirit, which has always been antago-
nistic to the free Gospel of the Grace of God — that Gospel
which makes the sign of a Christian's faithfulness to consist,
not in the performance of rites and ceremonies or the main-
tenance of dogmas and creeds, but in ' putting on Christ/ 89 in
practising love to God and Man after Christ's example 90 —
which tells us that ' Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these
three : but the greatest of these is charity/ 91

• T CoLii. 21. ■• Matt. xv. 9. ■• Rom.xiii.14.

•• Matt. xxii. 35-40. •» 1C0r.xiii.i3.

Q2

LECTURE XVII.

SUMMARY.

Signs of progress in the legislation of different ages ; the Mosaic Tabernacle
specially related to the Second Temple ; indications that the splendid Mosaic
Ark never existed ; the real ark of the Exodus ; the original account of its
construction suppressed, and the ' ark of the covenant ' of the O.S. replaced
in the L.L. by the 'Ark of the Testimony'; the original notice of the
separation of the tribe of Levi as the priestly caste suppressed to make room
for the later account of the institution of the Priests and the Levites ; the
Bible, though taken from us as an idol, restored to us as the work of living
men ; contrast between its priestly and prophetical portions.

THE ARK AND THE PRIESTHOOD IN THE
ORIGINAL STORY.

\N my last Lecture I drew your attention to certain
institutions of the Priestly Legislation of the
Pentateuch, some of which, as the Year of Jubilee
and the Levitical Cities, appear never to have
been carried out at all in practice, while others, as the Day
of Atonement and the Sabbatical Year, were observed only in
later days, after the return from the Babylonish Captivity,
giving thus a plain indication of the later age which gave
birth to them. The last of these, we saw, was merely an in-
judicious rendering of a much older law, which had first
passed through the hands of the Deuteronomist, and by him
had been already modified in accordance with the needs of
his own time. 1 And so in other instances it is interesting to
trace the progress of legislation from the earlier to the later
age. Thus the oldest writer in Genesis records the command,
as given to Noah after the Flood, ' not to eat flesh with its
soul, its blood ' ; * the later Deuteronomist repeats this, but
adds thrice the injunction to ' pour the blood upon the ground
as water ' ; 3 the still later priestly writer orders the blood
not only to be poured out, but to be ' covered with dust/ and

p. 224.

G.ix.4.

* D.xii. 1 6, 24, xv. 23.

232 THE ARK AND THE PRIESTHOOD

extends the law to sojourners as well as home-born Israelites.
Again, the Deuteronomist gives a list of unclean animals,
whose flesh was not to be eaten, and among these he reckons
' every swarming-thing that flieth. ,s The later priestly legisla-
tor corrects this too hasty generalisation, by permitting the
use of four forms of the locust. 6 So with respect to an animal
' dying of itself or torn/ the Original Story says ' ye shall not
eat it, to the dogs ye shall cast it ' ; 7 the Deuteronomist also
forbids such flesh being eaten by any Israelite, but adds — ' to
the sojourner that is in thy gates shalt thou give it that he
may eat it, or sell it to a stranger ' : 8 the priestly writer
assumes that Israelites generally may freely eat of such meat,
but provides that • every soul that shall eat anything dying of
itself or torn, whether homeborn or sojourner, shall wash his
clothes and bathe with water, and be unclean until the
evening, and then he shall be clean.' • He forbids only the
priests to eat anything 'fallen or torn.' 10 It is plain that
this law, which allows all Israelites except the priests to eat
such flesh, cannot possibly have been issued, as would appear
from its present position in the Pentateuch, between the other
two laws, each of which forbids such food to all Israelites.
So, too, it cannot be supposed that the laws in the Book of
Numbers, 11 which secure to the priests and Levites such a
sumptuous maintenance on the authority of Jehovah Him-
self, giving the firstlings wholly to the priests and the tithes
to the Levites, 12 should have been afterwards modified by
Moses in Deuteronomy, assigning much smaller perquisites
from the sacrifices, 18 and expressly enjoining the householder
to feast with his family and servants upon these very same
firstlings and tithes, 14 only not to forget the stranger, and the

4 L. x vii. 1 3, comp. Ez. xxi v. 7,8. • D. xi v. 1 9.

• L.xi.20-23. f E.xxii.31. • D.xiv.21.

• L. xvii. 1 5. w L. xxii. 8, com/. Ez. xliv. 3 1 , iv. 14.

> > N. xviii. 8, &c. " v. 1 7, 1 8, 24. M D. xvii. 3, cam/. N. xviii. 1 8.

u D.xiv. 23-29.

IN THE ORIGINAL STORY. 233

orphan, and the widow, and the Levite}* It is plain that the
more bountiful provision was the latest of the two ; and,
indeed, we may be sure that the priests and Levites would
never have abandoned such ample rights secured to them, it
is supposed, by the Divine Lawgiver.

Further, the description in Exodus of the Tabernacle and
its vessels betrays a singular relation to the Second Temple, '
built after the return from the Captivity. It has been ascer-
tained that the dimensions of every part of the Tabernacle
were exactly half those of the First or Solomon's Temple ;
and from this it has been inferred that ' the form of the
Temple was copied from the Tabernacle.' 16 But how is it
that not the least allusion is made to so important a fact in
the account of the building of that Temple ? Or how came
it to pass that Solomon made for his Temple a golden altar
of incense, a golden table of shewbread, golden candlesticks
and bowls and snuffers and basons and spoons, 17 if these
vessels existed already, made by Divine Command after a
heavenly model shown to Moses in the Mount ? I8 Rather,
the arrangements of the Tabernacle do indeed generally
correspond with those of the First Temple, as well as the
Second, since the latter was, no doubt, copied in most re-
spects from the former ; but on some points they vary from
those of the First Temple, and here they are found to agree
with the Second. Thus in Solomon's Temple there were
folding-doors, which closed the entrance to the Holy of
Holies ; 19 but in the Second Temple there was merely a vail, 20
as there was also to be in the Tabernacle. 21 In Solomon's
Temple there stood ten golden candlesticks, five on the right
hand and five on the left. 22 But in the Tabernacle there was
to be only one seven-branched golden candlestick, 23 and so

'» tr.27,29. ,f Dict.ofth€BibU 9 Tll.v.i4$$-6.

17 iK.vii.48-50. J8 E. xxx. I -6, xxv. 23-40. »• iK.vi.3i,32,vii.5o.

*• Matt.xxvii.51, IIeb.vi.19. fl E.xxvi.3i,&c. ■ iK.vii.49.

n E.xxy~3I,&c.

234 THE ARK AND THE PRIESTHOOD

there was only one in the Second Temple, 34 which was repre-
sented, as carried in triumphal procession, on the Arch of
Titus at Rome.

In the Second Temple, of course, there was no Ark, since
that was lost at the Captivity, having probably been de-
stroyed in the conflagration of the City and the Temple. But
that the Ark then lost was not the splendid Ark of Exodus
— 'overlaid within and without with pure gold/ with 'a
golden crown, golden rings, and staves overlaid with gold/
and a ' mercy-seat ' above it of pure gold, and two golden
cherubs on the ends of it ** — we may safely conclude, not
only from the consideration that so precious an object would
hardly have been left to lie neglected in a private house, for
many years and that under Samuel's rule, 26 but especially
from the fact that no mention is made of its being carried off
as spoil by Nebuchadnezzar. The brazen pillars of the
Temple are named, the bases, and the brazen sea ; ' the pots,
and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the
brazen vessels, and the fire-pans, and the bowls, such things
as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, did the
captain of the guard take away.' 27 Could the precious
golden Ark of Exodus have been omitted in this enumera-
tion, if it really formed part of the plunder ? The real ark
was probably a mere wooden chest, such as the Egyptians
and other nations used for carrying about in procession their
sacred mysteries. Accordingly the Original Story speaks of
the ark as going before the people in the wilderness ' to search
out a resting-place for them/ M and again, in the Book of
Joshua, as being carried by the priests in procession when
they crossed the Jordan on dry ground, 29 and when they
marched around the walls of Jericho. 80 In that case such an

11 I Mace. i. 2 1, iv. 49, 50. » E.xxv. 11-13,17, 18.

21 iS.vii.1,2, <ww/. 2S.vi.2. " 2K.xxv. 14-16.

«• N.x.23. » J.iii.6. •• J.vi.8,9.

IN THE ORIGINAL STORY. 235

ark, however rudely made, would have been venerable for
them as the sacred symbol of their religion ; but in the eyes
of Nebuchadnezzar's captain of the guard it would probably
have seemed to be worthless, and would have been left to
perish amidst the ruins of the Temple.

But when was this ark made in the Original Story ? * At
present there is no record of its construction : it is suddenly
introduced as the ' ark of the Covenant of Jehovah.' 3l Now
we remember that Moses after breaking the two stone-tables
is ordered to make two tables like the first, and to come with
them up to the top of the Mount ; M and at the end of forty
days he receives these two tables on which had been inscribed
by the Finger of God the ' words of the Covenant,' M that is,
the words in E.xxi-xxiii, 'which were on the first tables
which he brake.' w And then he comes down * with the two
tables of the Testimony in his hand.' M What now did he do
with these august tables ? There was as yet no proper recep-
tacle for them, as the story now stands ; for the Tabernacle
was not begun to be made ; and six months passed before it
was set up, 36 and then, we are told, Moses ' took and put
the Testimony — that is, the two stone-tables — in to the Ark.' 37
Nor were there even at this later time any priests or Levites
as yet consecrated, 38 to take charge of the precious deposit,
but Moses himself has to burn the incense and offer the
sacrifices on that occasion. 39 It can hardly be meant that
these sacred tables were merely to be placed loosely in the
tent of Moses, which he had set up outside the Camp, under
the charge of ' the young man his servant Joshua.' 40 How
then did he dispose of these tables of stone in a manner
worthy of their awful character, as containing the words of the

81 N.x.23. n E.xxxiv.1,2. n V.2%.

** v.i, seep. 134. ** v.29. M E.xl. 17.

91 v.20. *• L.viii, N.viii.5-22. *» E.xl. 27, 29.

«• E.xxxiii.7-11.

236 THE ARK AND THE PRIESTHOOD

Covenant made between Jehovah and Israel, engraved by
the very Finger of God ?

The Deuteronomist will help us to answer this question.
He had, as we know, the Original Story m his hands, and
can tell us what its contents were before the priestly writers
meddled with it. And this is what he says upon this point :
— 'At that time Jehovah said unto me, Hew thee two
tables of stone like the first, and come-up unto Me into the
Mount, and make thee an ark of wood. And I will write upon
the tables the words that were on the first tables which thou
brakest, and thou shalt place them in the ark. So I made an
ark of shittim-wood, and I hewed two tables of stone like the
first ; and I went up into the Mount, and the two tables were
in my hand. And He wrote upon the tables according to
the first writing, the Ten Words/ 4l Now all this is copied
almost word for word from the account in Exodus, 42 which it
is plain the writer must have had before him ; only instead of
' the words of the Covenant/ as it stood in that narrative, he
writes here ( the Ten Words/ referring, of course, to the Ten
Commandments, which he himself had inserted, as having
been spoken by Jehovah ' in the Mount out of the midst of
the fire in the day of the Assembly/ 43 but inserted in a place
where (as we have seen 44 ) there is really no room for them in
the Original Story. Otherwise this statement is an exact
transcript, as from the mouth of Moses in the first person, of
what is there related of him in the third, except that the
Deuteronomist has here three short clauses, which do not now
appear in the Original Story — l and make thee an ark of
wood,' ' and thou shalt place them in the ark 9 y 'so I made an
ark ofshittim-wood. y It is plain that he must have had before
him, in the copy which he so closely follows, corresponding
clauses, which were of necessity struck out by the priestly

" D.x.l-4a. « E.xxxiv. 1,2,4,28b. « D.x.4. « p. 105.

IN THE ORIGINAL STORY. 237

writer when he introduced his own account of the making of
the splendid Ark of the Later Legislation. 4 * And, of course,
when the Deuteronomist makes Moses say in addition, ' And
Jehovah gave them unto me, and I turned and came-down
from the Mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had
made, and there they are, as Jehovah commanded me/ 46 it
is reasonable to believe that corresponding words existed also
in his time in the Original Story, which must have been like-
wise of necessity removed when the priestly writer inserted
his own account of the tables being placed in the Ark by
Moses half-a-year afterwards. 47

Thus, then, according to the Original Story, Moses made
by Divine Command a simple ark of wood — of shittim-wood,
he tells us — as a receptacle for the stone-tables at the same
time that he made the tables themselves, and it stood there-
fore ready to receive them as soon as he came down with
them, and it did receive them — ' he put the tables in the ark
which he had made, as Jehovah commanded him.' 48 Hence-
forth it is always called ' the ark of the covenant of JEHOVAH*
in the Original Story of the Pentateuch, as it is also in
Deuteronomy, 49 as containing the two tables of the Covenant;
whereas throughout the priestly Legislation it is always called
' the Ark of the Testimony.' M

But who were to be the guardians of this treasure ? The
Deuteronomist, with his knowledge of the Original Story in
its primitive form, undisturbed by the work of the later
priestly legislators, will help us here also. The passage which
I have just been quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy is
followed by two verses which are quite unintelligible : as one
eminent writer notes in his well-known Commentary, ' They
so break in upon the connexion of Moses' discourse, and give

** E.xxv. 16-22, xxxvii. 1-9. ** D.x.4b,5. 47 E.xl.20.

*• N.x.33,xiv.44. «• D.x.8,xxxi.9,25,26.

•• E. xxv. 22, xx vi. 33, 34, xxx. 6, 26, xxxi. 7, xxxix. 35, xl. 3, 5, 2 1 , N. iv. 5, vii. 89.

238 THE ARK AND THE PRIESTHOOD

such an account of the names of places, that they perplex
commentators ' ; 61 while the New Commentary says, ' It is
possible that these two verses may be, as some other notices
of a like character, a gloss/ 6a These two verses, in fact, are
probably a later priestly insertion, consisting mainly of a frag-
ment belonging to the list of stations in the wilderness in
N.xxi of the Original Story, which contained also the state-
ment with reference to one of them, ' there Aaron died and
there he was buried ' — just exactly as in the same narrative
we find it said with reference to Kadesh, ' there Miriam died
and there she was buried' M — but without any allusion to
Aaron's priesthood. To this notice, however, the priestly
writer has added ' and Eleazar his son acted-as-priest in his
stead ' ; and by some mistake or accident the whole has been
introduced at a point of the story where it is utterly unmean-
ing, since Moses in the previous context is speaking of their
being under Sinai in the first year after the march out of
Egypt, and Aaron's death occurred, as the story now stands,
nearly forty years afterwards. 54

Passing by, therefore, these two verses we read as follows :
— l At that time JEHOVAH separated the tribe of Levi to bear
the ark of the Covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Je-
hovah to minister and to bless in His Name, unto this day.
Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his
brethren: Jehovah is his inheritance, as Jehovah thy
Elohim promised him.' M Let us mark well what the Deute-
ronomist here says, who had before him the Original Story in
its primitive form. ' At that time' — which words, says the New
Commentary, 'certainly connect themselves with v.$ f and not
with v.y * 56 — that is, ' connect themselves ' with the passage
we have just been considering with reference to the making
of the ark under Sinai. ' At that time/ then — viz., at the

•» Rev. Thomas Scott on D.x.6,7. ** I.p.836. •» N.xx.i.

»* N.xxxiii.38. *» D.x.8,9. " I.p.836.

IN THE ORIGINAL STORY. 239

time when Moses came-down from the Mount and put the
tables in the ark which he had made — ' Jehovah separated
the tribe of Levi ' — the wliole tribe — for the sacred duties of
the priesthood. And now we remember that, only just before,
when Moses had dashed the first pair of tables in pieces at
sight of the Golden Calf, the Levites are said to have come
forward zealously at his summons, as if they also, his fellow-
tribesmen, shared in his abhorrence of this idolatry, and to
have massacred 3,000 of the people, sparing neither kith nor
kin — 'for Moses had said, Cottsccrate yourselves to-day to
Jehovah, even every man upon his son and upon his
brother, that He may bestow a blessing upon you this day/ 67
What ' blessing ' can here be meant except this priesthood
bestowed upon the whole tribe of Levi, so that henceforth
they should have no landed estate in Israel, but ' Jehovah
should be their inheritance* 58 — that is, they should have
Jehovah's share in the sacrifices and offerings of the whole
community ? Not a word, however, is here said about Aaron
and the sons of Aaron being chosen exclusively to be priests,
whereas the Levites were not to ' come nigh ' the priestly
office, ' lest they die/ .according to the later priestly law.* 9
How, indeed, could Aaron have deserved any special 'blessing*
on this occasion — Aaron, the very head and front of the
transgression in the matter of the Golden Calf 60 — much less
to have the priesthood confined to himself and his sons, to
the exclusion of the faithful Levites who had so zealously
avenged it ? But, in fact, as I have said before, there is no
sign whatever that in the Original Story Aaron ever acted as
a priest at all, any more than his brother Moses ; though in
that narrative the tribe, to which Moses and Aaron belonged,
seems to have been marked out from the first as the priestly
caste, but without any of the exorbitant pretensions of the

57 E.xxxii. 25-29. *• D.x.9.

* N.iii. io,38,xvi.40,xviii.7. •• E.xxxii. 1-5,21-25.

240 THE ARK AND THE PRIESTHOOD

later priesthood, or any special privileges attached to them,
unless they were actually officiating as priests. 61 Thus in
Jeremiah's time the ordinary Levites are reckoned with the
poor and needy of the land ; 6a and in the list of David's
officers, the chief officiating priests, Zadok and Abiathar, are
ranked low down in the scale of dignity, 63 while in Solomon's
time they are placed still lower. 64

There can be little doubt, therefore, that when in the
Original Story Moses comes-down with the second set of
tables in his hands and places them in the ark, then in that
Story— ' at that time'— 'Jehovah separated the tribe of
Levi ' for the priesthood, and assigned to the whole body of
Levites 'the fire-offerings of Jehovah, Jehovah's inheri-
tance/ w or, as it stands, ' Jehovah ' Himself, 66 as their in-
heritance. Of course, any such passage must also of necessity
have been cancelled by the later priestly writer, when inserting
his own account of Aaron and his sons being called to the
priesthood 67 and of the Levites being taken instead of the
firstborns of Israel and given to the priests as servants. 68
But the passage in question, which the Deuteronomist must
have had before him, is evidently referred to in a part of the
Original Story in the Book of Joshua — ' Only unto the tribe
of Levi He gave no inheritance : the fire-offerings of Jehovah,
the Elohim of Israel, they are his inheritance, as He spake
to him ' ; 69 and there is no place in the whole Pentateuch
where Jehovah 'spake' such things of the 'tribe of Levi,'
unless in the passage in question, now missing, which we sup-
pose to have existed at one time in the Original Story.

Thus God Himself, the ' Father of lights,' by means of the
facts which He has enabled us first clearly to ascertain in the

« D.xviii.i-8. * D.xii.l9,27,29,xxvi.l2. " 2S.viii. 16,17

•* 1K.iv.2-4. • D.xviii.1. •• D.x.9,xviii.2.

41 E.xxviii, N.iii.3,4. " N. in. 5- 1 3. •» J.xiii.14.

IN THE ORIGINAL STORY. 241

present age, takes from us the Bible as an idol which men
have set up in their ignorance, to bow down to it and worship
it But He restores it to us to be reverenced as the work of
men in whose hearts the same human thoughts were stirring,
the same hopes and fears were dwelling, the same gracious
Spirit was operating, thousands of years ago, as now. It is
true, the priestly portions of the Pentateuch are rather of use
to us as a foil to the rest, at least to the Book of Deuteronomy.
They show how the thirst for spiritual power and pre-emi-
nence, the desire to secure for themselves dignity and in-
fluence, not to speak of other worldly advantages, as the only
authorised dispensers of the Divine favour and blessing for
the soul of man, which in all ages and under all forms of
religion have more or less distinctly characterised the priest-
hood, played a very conspicuous part in Jewish affairs after
the return from the Captivity. GOD only knows, who has
suffered it, how dark a page in human history the history of
the priesthood has been, from the isanusi of the Zulu to the
Jesuit of Christendom — how ' the fine gold has become dim/
the finest and brightest specimens of man have been corrupted
and distorted by the false and poisonous notion that one man,
or, rather, that one order of men, is nearer to God than others,
not by virtue of their goodness, but merely as the prerogative
of their class — that one order of men has been invested with
this prerogative, and made the channel of Divine grace and
communication to their fellows in some supernatural, magical
way. Mysterious, doubtless, are all Divine communications
— though not more or otherwise mysterious than human
nature and its Divinely-appointed relationships. But this
notion of the priesthood is specially antagonistic to human
relationships, and tends ever to interfere with them in the
most ungodly, because inhuman, manner. And it is altogether
alien to the spirit of Christianity, of which the leading features
are the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man.

R

242 THE ARK AND PRIESTHOOD IN ORIGINAL STORY.

4 Ye are,' says St. Peter, ' a royal priesthood ' ; 70 ' ye are built
up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ/ 71 The idea
expressed in these Words, the true Christian idea, is that all
Christians as such are brought into the immediate presence
of God, and have access to His mercy-seat, to pour forth
their prayers and ' the fruit of their lips giving thanks to His
Name.'

But there were prophets also in those days, ' preachers of
righteousness/ according to their lights, as well as priests ;
and one of these it is who says to the people in Jehovah's
Name, ' Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed and
keep My Covenant . . . then ye shall be unto Me a kingdom
of priests and an holy people/ 7a There is nothing of the
priestly spirit here, though he had not been blessed with the
light of Christianity and still restricts the privileges of God's
children to the ' House of Jacob/ the ' children of Israel.'
And there are prophets still among us, raised up in this as
in every age, to speak God's word, the word of truth, to their
brethren, whether in the pulpit or out of it. And that
Living Word, which is the Light and Life of men, is speaking
now to us in all those words of our fellow-men, which have
brought us in any degree to the clearer knowledge of Him
' whom no man hath seen or can see.' But let us be sure
that, as it is God who teaches us by means of our fellow-
men, we may expect that He will speak to us so that we can
hear and understand — that He will speak to our hearts and
carry inward demonstration to our spiritual being — that,
when He speaks, His words wiil come home to us, and will be
their own evidence.

'• iPet.ii.9. n tf.5. n E.xix.5,6.

LECTURE XVIII.

SUMMARY.

The Ark and Phinehas mentioned in an interpolated passage of Judges ; the
stories of two Levites, as told in that Book, considered ; no signs of any special
dignity having been attached to the tribe in that age ; the story of Samuel
and Eli considered ; the meaning of the ' faithful priest, ' who should be
raised up in Eli's place ; the notices of Levites in the Books of Samuel and
Kings examined ; no distinction made between Priests and Levites before the
Captivity ; any Levite might act as Priest, though, perhaps, in some subor-
dinate office, as ' doorkeeper ' ; the Gibeonites and other menials of the
Sanctuary in the time of David and Solomon ; the germ of the idea of dis-
tinguishing between Priests and Levites to be found in the act of Josiah, who
degraded the idolatrous priests of Judah ; this fructified in the mind of
Ezekiel, who sharply separates the faithful Levites, the 'sons of Zadok,'
from those Levites who had ministered at idolatrous altars ; the idea carried
out after the Captivity, though few of those degraded priests seem to have
returned ; the priestly legislation easily introduced after the Captivity by
reason of the enormous preponderance of priests in the new community.

THE PRIESTS AND THE ZEVJ7ES.

. HAT is the real meaning of the line being drawn
so sharply in the Levitical Law between the
Priests and the Levites ? Let us first see what is
told us about them in the history from the earliest
days down to the time of the Captivity, beginning with the
Book of Judges. In one passage of this Book we read as
follows : — ' And the children of Israel enquired of Jehovah ;
for the Ark of the Covenant of Elohim was there in those
days, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood
before it in those days/ l But this statement about the Ark
and Phinehas is clearly a later insertion, as is suggested at
once by the fact that already in the very same chapter the
children of Israel have twice before 'gone up and asked
counsel of Jehovah/ * without any mention being made of
the Ark or Phinehas. It has manifestly been inserted by
some priestly writer, who could not endure that the people
should ' ask counsel of JEHOVAH ' except through the inter-
vention of a 'priest the son of Aaron/ Otherwise in the
whole Book of Judges there is not the least allusion to Ark
or Tabernacle, Priest or Levite — not even in the Song of the
prophetess Deborah, 3 in which nine tribes are named, but not

1 Ju,xx.27,28. 2 z\ 18,23. * J luv -

246 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.

the tribe of Levi — except that two Levites figure as principal
characters in the last five chapters under peculiar circumstances.
For who are these two Levites? I have made some
allusion to them in a former Lecture ; 4 but we must now con-
sider their stories somewhat more at length. The first is a
homeless vagrant, a Levite by birth, who, after living for a
time at Bethlehem, goes to • sojourn where he might find a
place/ and makes his way to Mount Ephraim, where he comes
to the house of a man called Micah, who had made for him-
self a ' House of Elohim,' a sort of private chapel, which he
had fitted up with the usual accessories of worship in those
days, ' a graven image, and a molten image, an ephod, and
teraphim,' and ' had consecrated one of his sons to be priest.'
Micah says to the Levite, ' Dwell with me and be unto me a
father and a priest, and I will give thee ten pieces of silver a
year, and a suit of clothes and thy food/ And the Levite
consents, and so 4 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young
man became his priest and was in the house of Micah. And
Micah said, Now know I that JEHOVAH will do me good,
seeing that I have a Levite to be my priest* 6 This satis-
faction of Micah, at have secured ' a Levite for his priest,'
seems to imply that the Levites had really been separated as
a priestly caste, as they were (according to our view 6 ) in thq
Original Story at the time of the Exodus. And so in the
somewhat later time of 'Eli we read, ' Therd came a man of
God unto Eli and said unto him, Thus saith JEHOVAH, Did I
plainly appear unto thy father's house, when they were in
Egypt in Pharaoh's house ? ' — that is, to Moses and Aaron, as
representatives of the house of Levi. ' And did I choose them
out of all the tribes of Israel,' — that is, the whole tribe of Levi,
— ' to be My priest, to offer upon Mine altar, to burn incense,
to wear an ephod before me ? And did I give unto thy
father's house all the fire-offerings of the children of Israel ? ' 7
* p. 66. * Ju.xvii.5-13. • p. 240. » iS.ii.27,28.

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES. 247

The Levite in the case before us was seeking to be
employed as a priest at one of the numerous high^places of
the land ; and he finds such employment in Micah's chapel,
ministering there for Micah himself and ' the men that were
in the houses near to Micah' s house/ • Micah, we see, him-
self consecrates this Levite, as he had consecrated his own son,
and as afterwards Jeroboam consecrated priests from all parts
of the people. 9 This priest, however, with the ephod, tera-
phim, and graven image, was carried off by a troop of Danites,
who passed by the house on their way to ' seek an inheritance
to dwell in/ and overcame his remonstrances by saying, ' Hold
thy peace ! lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us,
and be to us a father and priest. Is it better for thee to be
a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a
priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel ? ' l0 And so they
marched northward and fell suddenly upon Laish at the ex-
tremity of the land of Canaan, whose inhabitants they killed,
and seized and rebuilt the town, which they called Dan ; and
there they set up their graven image ; u and there also, at
Dan, as also at Bethel, the two extremities of his kingdom,
Jeroboam set up in after days two calves, the symbols of the
Sun-God, and bade his people go to one of these for their
great annual festivals, for they had had enough of going up
to the Temple at Jerusalem. 12

Then follows an account of another Levite, who also lived
in no Levitical city, but on the side of Mount Ephraim. 13
In his time Jerusalem was still in the hands of the Jebusites,
the ' city of a stranger/ and he fears to enter it ; u the events
therefore occurred before the time of David, 16 and, in fact,
it is expressly stated that both this story and the former
belong to a time * when there was no king in Israel/ ,6 that

• Ju.xviii.22. • lK.xii.31. I§ Ju.xviii.l-2I. " v. 27-29, 3 1.

n iK.xii.28-30. "Ju.xix.1. >« v. 10-12.

" 2S.V.6-9. w Ju.xvii.6,xviili,xix.i,xxi.25.

248 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.

is, before the reign of Saul. This Levite was ' going through '
the House of Jehovah, 17 probably Bethel, or perhaps was
going to it, in order to become a priest there, when ' men of
Belial,' Benjamites, beset him at Gibeah and ill-used his con-
cubine to death ; 18 and the narrative so closely resembles in
its main features and its phraseology the story of Lot and
the Sodomites, 19 that it seems probable that the account of the
destruction of Sodom for the wickedness of its inhabitants was
based on this very occurrence, which may have been still
keenly remembered, with its sorrowful consequences to Israel
as here detailed, 20 at the time when the writer in Genesis
lived, that is, as we suppose, in the days of Saul or David.

As yet we have no sign of the grandeur of the priesthood,
or of the dignity of the priests compared with the Levites.
And now we come to the Books of Samuel. Here Samuel's
father, Elkanah, was apparently not a Levite, but ' a man of
Mount Ephraim, an Ephrathite ' 21 or Ephraimite, like Jero-
boam. 22 Yet Samuel his son slept in the Tabernacle at
Shiloh, 23 and acted throughout his life as a priest. 24 More-
over, according to the priestly law, all Levites belonged to
JEHOVAH from their birth, 25 though they were not to minister
till thirty years of age, 26 which in another place is strangely
altered to twenty-five. 27 But Samuel is here * given ' or ' lent '
to Jehovah by his mother Hannah, 28 and he ministers before
JEHOVAH in the Tabernacle as a child, ' girded with a linen
ephod,' 29 that is, dressed as a priest.

Eli and his two sons appear to have been the only priests

u Ju.xix.i8. ,§ v. 22-28.

19 comp. v.$ with G.xyiii.5 — v. 20 with G.xix.2— v. 22 with G.xix.4,5— p.23,24,
with G.xix.6-8.

*° Ju.xx,xxi. « iS.i. 1. » 1K.xi.26.

*• iS.iii.3, which should be translated, 'And ere the lamp of Elohim went
out, and Samuel lying down in the Temple of Jehovah, where the ark of
Elohim was,' and not as in the E. V.

a * iS.vii.9,ix.i3,x.8,x\i.i_5. » N.iii.12,13. *• N.iv.3.

91 N.viii.24. «• iS.i.28,ii.20. 2 » iS.ii.ii,i8,iii.i.

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES. 249

at Shiloh ; 30 and there is no hint of any multitude of Levites
assisting at the Sanctuary; we read only of the priest's
servant, who, instead of waiting for the fat to be burnt reve-
rently upon the altar, and then taking the priest's portion
from the sacrifice, comes with violence, and dashes his three-
pronged fork into the boiler, and brings up for the priest
whatever he can thus lay hold of. 81 It is plain that in those
days there was no law like that of the Deuteronomist, 3 *
assigning the parts to be given to the priests, — much less the
larger provision of the later priestly law, the breast and the
hind-leg, 33 far surpassing any perquisite which the most
dexterous servant would be likely to secure for his master in
this way. For the sins of his sons, however, and his own sin
in not restraining them, Eli's judgment is pronounced as
follows : — ' I said indeed that thy house and thy father's
house should walk before Me for ever : but now JEHOVAH
saith, Be it far from Me ! for them that honour Me I will
honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
. . . And I will raise Me up a faithful priest, who shall do
according to that which is in My heart and in My mind ; and
I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before Mine
anointed ' — that is, the king — ' for ever. And it shall come
to pass that everyone that is left in thine house shall come and
crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and
shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices
that I may eat a piece of bread/ u

It might seem at first sight that, according to these words,
the whole House of Levi, to which the promise had been
made, was to be set aside. But the ' faithful priest/ whom
Jehovah would raise up in the place of Eli, is evidently to be
placed in a position of authority, to whom other priests might
' crouch ' for bread : that is, the words refer to the chief-

*• iS.i.9,ii. I2-I7,iv.4. " iS.ii. 13-17,29. * D.xviii.3.

" N.xviii. 18. *■ iS.ii.30,35,36.

250 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.

priesthood, and the writer probably means to say, * the chief-
priesthood shall not be continued in thy line/ Eli having come
in regular descent from the chief officiating priest at the time of
the Exodus. You remember how upon the death of David
the old priest Abiathar, Eli's great-great-grandson, 35 who for
nearly fifty years had followed faithfully the fortunes of
David, 86 and ' had been afflicted in all wherein David was
afflicted/ 8T together with Joab the commander-in-chief, sup-
ported the claims of Adonijah, Davids eldest son, to succeed
to the throne, 88 and how * Zadok the priest and Benaiah the
son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet were not with
Adonijah/ w but espoused the cause of his youngest son,
Solomon, 40 taking into their counsel his mother Bathsheba, 4I
the guilty wife of Uriah the Hittite, with whom David had
carried on an adulterous intercourse, and then had had her
husband murdered, to conceal, if possible, the sin. 48 The aged
king, now in his dotage, is persuaded to recognise pubjidy
Solomon as his successor ; 48 and one of the first acts of Solo-
mon's reign is to put to death his brother Adonijah, 44 and the
next to depose the old chief-priest Abiathar, 45 and the next to
have Joab killed, 46 in accordance with David's dying sugges-
tion 4T — 4 and the king put Benaiah ' — his own supporter — ' in
Joab's room over the host, and Zadok the priest did the king
put in the room of Abiathar.' 48 And so, says the writer,
4 Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto Jeho-
vah, that he might fulfil the word of Jehovah which he
spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh/ 49 — this very
4 word ' spoken of Eli having been in all probability suggested
to the writer in Solomon's days by the wish to account in
some way for this outrageous act. It is very plain, however,

" lS.xiv.3,xxii.20.

u iS.>:xii.20,2i.

*' lK.ii.26.

M iK.i.7.

•» r.8.

40 ^.38.

41 v. 11, Sec.

« 2S.xi.2-17.

« iK.i.28-35.

44 iK.ii.13-25.

v.26,27.

« v. 28-34.

47 v.sA

" v.&

*• v.27.

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES. 251

that we have only an ordinary Court-cabal, and all the well-
known features of Oriental despotism. But how incongruous
with the ideas of the later priestly legislation is this act, by
which a young prince ejects summarily on his own authority
one high-priest and puts another in his room ! How opposed to
them also is the notion of there being two chief priests during
the latter part of David's reign, 50 and those not father and
son, so that one, according to the priestly law, 61 might duly
succeed to the other ! Zadok, however, was most probably
also of Levite descent, and he may have been even related to
Abiathar in some way, and so may have been appointed to
assist him fn his duties, when these were, no doubt, increased
by the erection of the Tabernacle on Mount Zion and the
bringing up of the Ark. It would seem that, aided by his
more active age, and perhaps by the greater vigour of his
character, he took the lead of his aged colleague, since he is
always named first of the two, ' Zadok and Abiathar/ 6a

In the two Books of Samuel, Moses and Aaron are spoken
of together in one passage, 63 as co-leaders of the people : but
nothing is said about Aaron's priesthood, nor is he named
again either in these or in the two Books of Kings. The
Levites are mentioned twice in the Books of Samuel. In one
place they take down the ark from the cart, 64 on which it had
been brought back by the Philistines : in the other they carry
the ark with Zadok, when David flees from Jerusalem before
the coming of Absalom 66 — which agrees with the examples
in the Original Story of ' the priests the Levites ' carrying
the ark across the Jordan and around the walls of Jericho. 66
In the Books of Kings also the Levites are twice mentioned.
In one place Jeroboam is reproached for making priests
4 from all parts of the people who were not of the sons of

*• 2S.viii.17. M E.xxix.29,30, comp. N. xx. 26, 28.

" 2S.viii.i7,xv.24,27,29,35,36,xvii. I5,xix.n,xx.25, iK.iv.4.

** lS.xii.6,8. ** 1S.vi.15. M 2S.xv.24. *• J.iti.6, 14, I7,vi. 12.

252 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.

Levi ; ' 67 and this, of course, implies that the Levites were
regarded, in Judah at all events, as the priestly caste, in ac-
cordance with the view maintained by the writer of the
Original Story ; w but it is also plain that the writer, Jeremiah,
laid no stress upon their being ' sons of Aaron/ And they
are mentioned again in the account of the dedication of
Solomon's Temple, where, after the statement that ' all the
elders of Israel came and the priests took up the ark/ it is
added, 'and they brought up the ark of Jehovah and the
Tent of Meeting and all the holy vessels that were in the
Tent, even those did the priests and tlte Levites bring up/ ft9
But this verse will be seen to break the thread of the story,
which also before and after speaks only about ' the ark/ not
' the ark of Jehovah/ as here. If these ' holy vessels/ made
by express Divine command by Moses, were actually ' in the
Tent ' at this time — for instance, the golden altar of incense,
the golden table of shewbread, the golden seven-branched
candlestick, with its flowers and lamps and tongs of pure
gold — what became of them, these most august and precious
memorials of the march through the wilderness, when Solo-
mon made the corresponding vessels for the Temple? 60
Were they placed in the ' Tent of Meeting/ set up inside the
Temple, or were the Tent and its vessels laid aside and for-
gotten ? At all events we hear no more of them : the grand
Mosaic Tabernacle disappears silently henceforth from the
history. The fact is that we have here another priestly in-
sertion of a later age, with the phrase ' priests and Levites/
as if they were different orders like ' priests and deacons/ a
phrase which never occurs elsewhere in any book written
before the Captivity, but appears very frequently in those
written after it. 61

» T 1K.xii.31. » 8 p. 165. *• iK.viii.4. «° 1K.vii.48-.50.

61 iCh.xiii.2,xv.4,&c, 2Ch.vii.6,viii.i4,i5,&c, Ezr.i.5,ii.70,&c, Neh.vii.
73,viii.i3,&c.

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES. 253

In short, the priests and the Levites were identical before
the Captivity, or, rather, any Levite could act as priest, 62
though he may have had to go through some form of con-
secration before actually entering upon the office. In older
times, as we have seen, 6 * there were high-places all over the
land in both kingdoms, at which such priests were needed,
besides the Central Sanctuaries, at Jerusalem in the southern,
and at Bethel and Dan in the northern, kingdom. Jeroboam,
it seems, did not employ exclusively the tribe of Levi : though
it is not said that he allowed no Levites to be priests in his
kingdom. But he probably attached no weight to the state-
ment of the Original Story which restricted the priesthood
on Divine authority to that tribe, and he employed for it men
of all tribes indiscriminately. In Judah, however, and espe-
cially in Jerusalem, where most probably that story was
written, the Levites were regarded as the only lawful priests
all along, down to the time of the Captivity. There was no
distinction of 'orders' as yet between the priests and the
Levites, though there was, of course, a chief-priest who had
the oversight of the Sanctuary, 64 and to whom a needy
Levite would have recourse when seeking employment, to
whom he might even have humbly to ' crouch,' praying to be
put into one or other of the priests' offices, that he might eat
a piece of bread, — for instance, into that of a ' doorkeeper,'
which before the Captivity was filled by priests. 65 And it
may have been with a view to prevent such haughtiness that
the Deuteronomist provides that, if any Levites chose to
come to Jerusalem, 'with all the desire of their mind,' to
officiate as priests there, they should have ' like portions to
eat' with all the rest of their brethren who 'stood there
before Jehovah.' 66

" D.xviii.6-8. n p. 107.

•* 2K.xi.4,&c.,xii.2,7,9,xvi. 10, 1 i,xxii.4,8,xxv. 18.

•* 2K.XU.9, comp. xxii.4,xxv.i8. " D.xviii.d-8.

254 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES,

For still lower work connected with the Sanctuary there
were probably attached to the Temple, as servants to the
priesthood, the persons spoken of in later books as ' Nethi-
nim ' 67 and ' Solomon's servants.' 68 The word ' Nethinim *
means ' given/ and we read in the Original Story that the
Gibeonites, whose ambassadors had beguiled Israel into making
peace with Joshua on the pretence of having come from a
far-distant land, 69 were 'given' by him for the work of
hewing wood and drawing water for the ' House of his
Elohim,' for the 'altar of Jehovah.' 70 But Saul, we are
told, slew the Gibeonites, 71 who perhaps were servants to the
priests at Nob when he massacred there ' eighty-five persons
wearing the ephod,' 7a and may even be reckoned among this
number as connected with the Sanctuary, since there is no
sign in the history of so many priests existing at that time.
Thus there remained only a few of the original ' Nethinim,'
by whomsoever these were really first employed for such
work : and there would consequently be a lack of servants,
as well as priests, for the greater demands of David's Taber-
nacle and, at all events, for those of Solomon's Temple.
Hence, most probably, Solomon assigned additional servants
for these menial offices 73 from the remnant of the Canaanites,
upon whom he ' levied a tribute of bondservice.' 74

During the Captivity, however, the idea seems to have
been developed of distinguishing between those Levites who
had taken part in idolatrous practices, themselves or their
parents, and the faithful Levites who had adhered to the pure
worship of Jehovah. We find the germ of this idea in the
account of Josiah's Reformation, where we read — 'And he
brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled

•' iCh.ix.2, Ezr.ii.43,58,7o,vii.7,viii.i7,20, Neh. iii. 26, 3 i,vii. 46,60,73.x. 28,
xi.3,21.

•• Ezr.ii.55,58, Neh.vii.57,6o,xi.3. •• J.ix.3-16.

n tf.23,27. « 2S.xxi.2. n iS.xxii. 18,19.

'» Ezr.viii.20. r « 2K.ix.2i.

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES. 255

the high-places where the priests had burned incense. . . .
Nevertheless the priests of the high-places came not up to the
altar of Jehovah at Jerusalem, but they did eat of the un-
leavened bread among their brethren/ 75 Thus, whereas
Josiah killed without mercy the idolatrous priests in the cities
of Samaria — ' he slew all the priests of the high-places that
were there before the altars/ 76 — he only degraded the idola-
trous Levites of Judah : they were not to officiate henceforth
at the altar, but they were still allowed to ' eat unleavened
bread ' — that is, probably, to keep the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, with its special rite, the Passover, — ' among their
brethren/ and in this way they took part, we may believe,
in the great Passover which was presently kept at Jerusalem. 77
This was probably done by the advice of the chief-priest
Hilkiah, who could not endure that these idolatrous priests
should be admitted at once to the full privileges of the
Temple. And the idea, thus thrown out, seems to have
fructified in the mind of EzekieL For in Ez.xl-xlviii,
written 'in the fourteenth year after that the city was
smitten/ 78 he has visions of God, 79 and plans out a scheme
for the rebuilding of the City and the Temple, arid the re-
establishment of worship at Jerusalem ; and he strongly dis-
tinguishes in his new community between those Levites ' who
had kept Jehovah's charge and had not gone astray when
the children of Israel went astray * *° and the other Levites
who had done this. 81 These faithful priests he calls ' the sons
of Zadok/ though certainly not as lineal descendants of
Zadok ; since those very abominations, which Josiah cleared
out of the Temple, must have accumulated under high-priests
of Zadok's line, from the time of Solomon downwards. Per-
haps he had in his mind the words addressed to Eli and
pointing to Zadok, ' I will raise Me up a faithful priest, that

" 2K.xxiii.8,9. n v.20. TT v.21-23. n Ez.xl.i.

n v.2,&c. "• Ez.xlviii.iL « Ez.xliv.io.

256 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.

shall do according to that which is in Mine heart and in My
mind/ M and speaks of these as being ' sons of Zadok ' in
spirit, according to this description of him. However this
may be, he draws a strong line of demarcation between these
two classes of priests, though he calls them both Levites —
saying of the one, ' The priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok,
who kept the charge of My Sanctuary when the children of
Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me
to minister unto Me, and they shall stand before Me to offer
unto Me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah ;
they shall enter into My Sanctuary, and they shall come near
to My Table to minister unto Me, and they shall keep My
charge : ' 88 whereas of the other class he says, 6 But the Levites,
who went far from Me when Israel went astray, who went
astray from Me after their idols, let them bear their iniquity ;
and let them be in My Dwelling ministers appointed at the
gates of the House, and ministering in the House ; let them
slay the burnt-offering and the sacrifice for the people and
stand before them to minister to them ; because they
ministered to them before their idols, and became to the
House of Israel a stumbling-block of iniquity, therefore
have I lifted up My hand against them, saith the Lord
JEHOVAH, and they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall
not draw-near to Me to act as priests unto Me y and to draw-
near beside any of My holy things unto the Holy of Holies,
and they shall bear their shame and their abominations which
they have done. And I have given them as keepers of the
charge of the House for all its service and for all which shall
be done in it* 84

He still, however, calls this latter class of Levites ' priests,'
speaking of ' the priests the keepers of the charge of the
House * ; M but he never speaks anywhere of ' the priests the

■» iS.ii.35, comp. 1K.ii.27. •» Ez.xliv.15,16.

■ 4 v. 10-14. •* Ez.xl.45.

THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES. 257

sons of Aaron. 1 In short, as I have said, these Levites were
but degraded priests. And there can be litfle doubt that, on
the return from the Captivity, Ezekiel's ideal view was actually
carried out, and those Levites, who had been faithful to the
purer worship of JEHOVAH, themselves or their parents,
were henceforth dignified exclusively with the name and office
of ' priest/ and very probably themselves insisted tenaciously
on this distinction being maintained ; while the children of
those who had ministered at idolatrous altars were allowed
to officiate still, but only as a class inferior to the priesthood.
They were not indeed to be ' hewers of wood and drawers of
water/ for which and other merely menial offices the Nethinim
and Solomon's servants were, no doubt, employed. But they
were to act as gatekeepers and choristers, and to slay the
burnt-offerings for the people, and generally to ' stand before
them, to minister unto them/ 86 whereas ' the priests the
Levites the sons of Zadok ' were to ' stand before JEHOVAH,
to minister unto Jehovah/ 87 Probably very few were
willing to ' bear their shame ' in this way ; at all events,
though more than 4,000 priests returned from the Captivity, 88
in the proportion of one priest to ten laymen, 89 only 341
Levites are said to have accompanied them. 90 This enormous
preponderance of sacerdotal power in the new community
explains the ease with which the priestly legislation was im-
posed, as if revealed by Jehovah to Moses, upon an ignorant
laity, who, returning under such circumstances, would pro-
bably for the most part be credulous devotees, the very
people to be priest-ridden. Things did not go altogether
smoothly even thus ; and Nehemiah tells us how a son of
the high-priest in his time had married the daughter of the
heathen Sanballat and he ' chased him from him ' 9I — besides

M Ez.xl.44,xliv.i. « 7 Ez.xliv.15,16. •• Ezr.ii. 36-39.

w tf.64. H v.40-42. •> Neh.xiii.28.

S

258 THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES.

other Jews, who had married wives of Ashdod, Ammon, and
Moab, and with whom he contended. 92 But the priestly spirit
triumphed in the main after the Captitity, even down to
the time when they 'sought how they might kill' the
blasphemer, as they called him, whose voice had sternly de-
nounced their practices, and published the Fatherly Love of
God to Man.

w v. 23-27.

e^^fefe^

LECTURE XIX.

'

SUMMARY.

Recapitulation ; the Pesach kept in Josiah's days as never before, in
strict accordance with the rules prescribed by the Deuteronomist in the Book
of the Covenant ; these rules differ strikingly from those in Exodus, and seem
to connect the Pesach with the sacrifice of firstlings ; the Deuteronomist
enjoins that human firstlings shall be redeemed ; in earlier times they were
undoubtedly sacrificed, down to Josiah's Reformation ; such sacrifices are ap-
parently enjoined in more than one passage of the O.S.; in the primitive age
human firstborns were probably ' made to pass-oveT ' to the Sun-God, on the
eve of the Full Moon, at the Spring Festival ; the practice may have been
dying out, though it was not extinct in Jeremiah's time ; points of difference
between the rules for observance of the Pesach in D.L., in L.L. ; the latter
falsely derives the name from Jehovah's ' passing-over ' by the Israelites when
He slew the Egyptians ; it further claims for Jehovah the Levites and their
cattle in place of the firstborns and firstlings of Israel, and then, inconsis-
tently, claims afterwards the firstlings for the priests, as it has previously
introduced the Levites as attached to the Sanctuary under the priests, and
used the term ' holy shekel * before there was any sanctuary or priesthood ;
the half-shekel tan in Exodus related to the post-Captivity Temple-tan ;
the Christian Passover.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

£HE first germ of that practice of later* times in
Israel, which drew a sharp line of distinction
between the priests and the Levites, lay, as we
have seen, 1 in the fact that in Josiah's Reforma-
tion those priests who had ministered at idolatrous altars,
were degraded from their office, and were no longer allowed
to officiate at the altar of Jehovah — a germ which grew and
sprouted in the mind of Ezekiel, who strongly distinguished
between the faithful Levites, the ' sons of Zadok,' and their
idolatrous brethren, and which during the exile produced the
ripe fruit of the priestly system, as set forth in the Levitical
Legislation of the Pentateuch, and carried out in the Jewish
Church after the return from the Captivity. But these de-
prived priests were not excommunicated : they were allowed
to ' eat the mazzoth among their brethren " a — that is, to cele-
brate with the other priests the Feast of Mazzoth or Un-
leavened Bread, the most remarkable feature of which was
the Passover or Pesach, as it is called in Hebrew, from which
is derived the Greek Pascha, and our own expression, the
Paschal Feast. I propose to consider in this Lecture the real
meaning and significance of this rite as practised among the
Hebrews in primitive times.

1 p. 256-7.

* 2K.XXUL9.

262 THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

We are told that, as a part of his great Reformation, Josiah
* commanded all the people saying, Keep the Passover unto
JEHOVAH your Elohim, as it is written in the Book of this
Covenant. Surely there was not holden such a Passover
from the days of the Judges that judged Israel, nor of the
kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah ; but in the eighteenth
year of King Josiah wherein this Passover was holden to J E-
HOVAH in Jerusalem/ 3 Never before, then, was such a Passover
as this observed in Israel from the days of the Judges down-
wards, that is, of course, from the very earliest times in the
history of the Hebrew people — not in David's time, when, after
' long war between the house of Saul and the house of David/ 4
the Ten Tribes gave in at last their full submission, and * they
anointed David king over Israel ' 6 — not even when six years
afterwards ' David and all the house of Israel ' had brought
up the sacred ark to Mount Zion, 6 nor later still, when Solo-
mon, ruling also over the Twelve tribes from Dan to Beer-
sheba and on both sides of the Jordan, had built his splendid
Temple at Jerusalem, and actually celebrated there from year
to year the three great Hebrew Festivals. 7 The 'goodness *
or € badness ' of the kings of Judah seems to have made no
difference in this respect : Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah,
Jotham, Uzziah, Hezekiah, who all * did right in the sight of
Jehovah/ 8 must have all themselves neglected, and allowed
their people to neglect, the due celebration of the Passover,
according to this statement. And certainly it is remarkable
that the Pesach is never once mentioned by any one of the
Psalmists or Prophets, except once by Ezekiel, 9 writing half
a century after the time of Josiah's Passover, or throughout
the whole history in the Books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings,
except in the single passage before us. Nay, even Josiah
himself, during the first seventeen years of his reign, though

*v 21-23. * 2S.iii.i. * 2S.iv.i-3. • 2S.vi.

' lK.ix.25. " iK.xv.n,xxii.43, 2K.xii.2,xiv.3,xv.3,34 l xviii.3. • Ez.xlv.21.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER. 263

his ' heart was tender,' l0 and for five of those years he had
Jeremiah by his side, 11 was evidently just as faulty as the
rest Only ' in the eighteenth year of King Josiah ' was this
famous Passover kept in Jerusalem as it had never been kept
before.

It is not said that the numbers then present were greater
than on any former occasion ; and the writer can hardly
have meant this, since the Ten Tribes had long been carried
captive, 12 and only the. petty kingdom of Judah remained,
with some scanty remnants of the northern tribes. Supposing,
however, that Josiah's zeal had roused a kindred enthusiasm
among his people, so that even from this diminished popula-
tion more people came to keep the Passover at Jerusalem
than had ever come before, yet the stress is here laid upon the
fact that it was now for the first time kept in the proper
manner, as enjoined in the Book of the Law just found in the
Temple; for 'the king commanded all the people saying,
Keep the Passover unto JEHOVAH your Elohim, as it is
written in the Book of this Covenant.' That ' Book of the
Covenant,' as we have seen, 13 was the main address of Moses
in the Book of Deuteronomy, the work, as we suppose, 14 of
the prophet Jeremiah, and by him probably placed in the
Temple, where in due time it was found by his father Hilkiah,
the reading of which produced that powerful impression on
the mind of the king, which led to his great Reformation. We
must examine, then, this address of Moses, and see what it
enjoins about the Passover, since in this way it was kept in
the days of Josiah.

Now, what the Deuteronomist says upon this subject is
this : — ' Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Pesach
to Jehovah thy Elohim ; for in the month of Abib Jehovah •
thy Elohim brought thee forth out of Egypt by night And

10 2K.xxii.i0. " Jer.i 2, xxv. 3. w 2K.xvii.6<

11 p. 149. • H p. 148,

264 THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

thou shalt slay the Pesach to Jehovah thy Elohim, of the
flock and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah shall
choose to make His Name to dwell there. Thou shalt not
eat with it anything leavened : seven days thou shalt eat it
with Mazzoth, bread of affliction, — for in haste thou camest-
forth out of the land of Egypt, — that so thou mayest re-
member the day of thy coming-forth out of the land of Egypt
all the days of thy life. And no leaven shall be seen with
thee in all thy coast seven days ; neither shall aught of the
flesh, which thou slayest the first day at even, remain all night
until the morning. Thou mayest not slay the Pesach in any
of thy gates which JEHOVAH thy Elohim giveth thee : but at
the place which Jehovah thy Elohim shall choose, to make
His Name to dwell there, thou shalt slay the Pesach at even,
at the going-down of the sun, at the season' of thy going-forth
out of Egypt And thou shalt boil and eat it in the place
which Jehovah thy Elohim shall choose, and thou shalt
turn in the morning and go unto thy tents. Six days shalt
thou eat Mazzoth, and on the seventh day shall be a restraint
to JEHOVAH thy Elohim, thou shalt do no work/ 15

This is the Deuteronomist's account of the Pesach or Pass-
over. There were to be seven days for the Feast of Mazzoth,
on which no leavened bread was to be eaten, 16 the seventh
day being kept as a solemn day of ' restraint,' on which no
work was to be done. 17 But ' on the first day at even ' 18 —
the Jewish day, you will remember, began with the evening —
the whole assembled people was to slay the Pesach and
boil l9 its flesh, and eat it during the night ' in the place
which Jehovah would choose/ and in the morning they
were to disperse to their ' tents ' or dwellings. I shall point
out presently in what respects these directions differ from
those of the Later Legislation in Exodus. But one striking

14 D.xvi. 1-8. u D.xvi.3,4. ,7 v.S.

18 tf.4,6. l9 v.J— not ' roast,' as in the E.V.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER. ' 265

difference is obvious at once, viz. that here, in Deuteronomy,
the whole assembled people are to eat the Pesach togetfier in
the Temple Courts during the night, and in the morning to
go each to his home ; whereas in Exodus they are to eat it
each with his family separately in his own house, 80 and it is
added, ' none of you shall go out at the door of his house
until the morning/ 21

We observe, however, that this older law in Deuteronomy
enjoins them to ' slay the Pesach of the flock and of tfie Zierd, 2 *
and that, immediately before this, the writer has ordered
that ' all the firstling males of the herd and of tlte flock ' shall
be 'sanctified to Jehovah ' and 'eaten before Jehovah
yearly in the place which He would choose.' M It would seem,
then, that he is here specifying the time at which these first-
lings of sheep and oxen should be eaten at a sacrificial feast,
viz. at the annual celebration of the Passover in the month of
Abib or ' Green-Ears/ that is, in the early Spring. So too,
when the Deuteronomist, as we have seen, 24 abridges the
laws of the older Covenant supposed to have been made
between Jehovah and the people under Sinai, he writes,
' The Feast of Mazzoth shalt thou observe : seven days shalt
thou eat Mazzoth as I commanded thee, at the season of the
month Abib, for in the month of Abib thou camest-forth out of
Egypt.' M And then follows immediately, as if in close con-
nexion with this Feast, ' All that openeth the womb is Mine,
and every male firstling among thy cattle, ox or sheep. But
the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb, and, if
thou redeem it not, thou shalt break its neck. All the first-
borns of thy sons shalt thou redeem.' K

But these, as I have said, are words of the Deuteronomist,-
writing in Josiah's time. Were the firstborns always 're-
deemed ' in Israel ? We have already seen abundantly, 27 by

" E.xii.7,13. 1l v.12. n v.2. ** D. xv. 19,20.

" p. 136-8. *• E.xxjciv.18. *• E.xxxiv. 19,20. " p. 119.

266 THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

many quotations from the Bible itself, that the practice of
offering human sacrifices — of first slaying and then burning
their firstborn sons and daughters in honour of the Sun-
God — prevailed extensively among the Hebrew people, not
only in the northerfi kingdom, 28 but in the kingdom of
Judah, 29 in the neighbourhood of the ark and the Temple, in
the presence of pious kings and zealous prophets, and in the
very face of, or rather, doubtless, often with the willing help of,
i the priests the sons of Levi/ ' Yea, they sacrificed their
sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent
blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters,
whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan, and the land
was polluted with blood.' 30 Thus even Josiah, as part of the
Reformation in the eighteenth year of his reign, ' defiled the
Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom,
that no man might make his son or his daughter pass-over
in- the fire to Molech, 31 — that is, ' pass-over ' as a sacrificial
offering to ' the King/ the Sun-God ; so that even down to
this time the practice of offering human-sacrifices must have
been continued in Jerusalem, under the good king Josiah, and
in the presence of the prophet Jeremiah and the high-priest
Hilkiah.

Moreover, we saw in a former Lecture 82 that in the oldest
code of laws, in the Book of Exodus, dating probably from
the age of Samuel, there is an ordinance which seems actually
to prescribe such sacrifices : — ' Thy fulness and thy tears ' —
that is, the firstfruits of thy threshing-floor and wine-press
— ' thou shalt not delay : the firstborn of thy children shalt
thou give unto Me : so shalt thou do with thine ox, with thy
sheep : seven days shall it be with its dam ; on the eighth
day thou shalt give it to Me.' 33 These firstlings of the herd
and of the flock were, of course, to be sacrificed '; and there is

28 2K.xvii.17. m 2K.xvi.3,xxi.6. * Ps.cxvi.37,38.

" 2K.xxiii.10. » p. 1 1 7. " E.xxii.29,30.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER. 267

no intimation whatever that the firstborns of man were to be
' given to Jehovah ' in any other way than that in which the
other firstlings were to be ' given ' to Him, that is, by fire.

So, again, in the Original Story, when the Israelites had
been let go out of their bondage under the terrible effect of
the last plague, which smote the firstborns of Egypt, both
man and beast, we read — 'And Jehovah spake unto Moses
saying, Sanctify to Me all the firstborn that openeth the
womb among the children of Israel, of men and cattle — it is
Mine.' w And then, most probably, a few more words enjoined
the celebration of the Feast of Mazzoth in memory of the
unleavened bread which they ate in their hurried flight, when
* they took their dough before it was leavened.' M But the
Deuteronomist has removed this, and inserted instead of it
his own more copious account of the Feast of Mazzoth, 86 at the
end of which he repeats the command about ' making to
pass-over to Jehovah ' all firstborns and firstlings. 37 But here
he adds ' all the firstborns of men among thy children shalt
thou redeem/ 38 thus softening and in fact explaining . away
the abrupt words of the Original Story just quoted, which,
as they read, would also seem to imply that the firstlings of
man and beast were to be dealt with in like manner, and
' sanctified to Jehovah ' by being sacrificed.

It is probable that in the primitive times in Israel, that is,
before and during the age of Samuel, or even after it — in
days when Jephthah. could sacrifice his only daughter as 'a
'burnt-offering to Jehovah/ 39 and Samuel could hew in
pieces ' before Jehovah ' the captive Agag, king of Amalek, 40
and David could m^ke his Ammonite captives ' pass-over ' in
the fire to Molech, 41 and could give up the seven sons and
grandsons of Saul to be impaled or crucified ' before Jeho-

•* E.xiii. 1,2. •» E.xii.34,39. •• tf.3-10.

91 v. 12, instead of E.V. 'set apart,' see rnarg, M v. 13.

99 Ju.xi. 30-40. «• I S. xv. 33.

41 2S.xi.31, instead of E.V. ' pass through the brick-kiln.'

268 THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

VAH/ 4a or even in the still later age, when such facts as these
could be recorded without one word of censure, — the Spring
Festival was kept in Israel, after the example of the tribes of
Canaan, with human as well as animal sacrifices, the first-
borns both of man and beast being made to ' pass-over to
Jehovah ' on the fourteenth day of the month at even, 43 that
is, on the eve of the Full Moon. This, ceremony was called
the Pesach or ' Passing-over,' and the Feast lasted for seven
days, with the custom, handed down perhaps from great
antiquity, when the use of leaven was unknown, of eating
bread unleavened. It is true, the Original Story, though it
enjoins the 'giving or sanctifying ' to JfiHOVAH all firstlings
both of man and beast, does not mention the Pesach by name.
It says, however, in its ancient code, ' Thou shalt not slay with
aught leavened the blood of My Sacrifice, neither shall the
fat of My Feast remain all night until the morning/ 44 — as if
there was some special ' Sacrifice ' and special ' Feast ' pecu-
liarly dear to Jehovah. And, accordingly, the Deuterono-
mist, when copying these words, instead of ' the Fat of My
Feast/ writes plainly 'the Sacrifice of the Feast of the
Pesach/ 48 showing that this gloomy solemnity was the
annual festival deemed of most importance, though doubtless
the joyous Autumn Feast was most in favour with the
people ; and so the words ' blood of My Sacrifice/ which the
Deuteronomist here merely repeats, were probably meant to
have a similar reference to the great Spring Sacrifice oi
firstborns and firstlings, which was designed especially to
propitiate the Sun-God and bring down a blessing on the
crops of the year.

At some time or other, no doubt, the practice was intro-
duced of ' redeeming ' the firstborns of men, perhaps about
the age of David, when the Story of Abraham's sacrifice was

« 2S.xxi.8,9. « E.xii.6. « E.xxiii.i8. 4 * E.xxxiv.25.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER. 269

probably written, 46 in which Isaac is ' redeemed ' with a ram. 47
Probably the older custom died out gradually, and in Jere-
miah's time was only observed at last by superstitious de-
votees. But it still, we find, existed in Israel down to the
eighteenth year of king Josiah, when for the first time the
Pesach was kept, ' as it was written in the Book of the Cove-
nant/ that is, only with sacrifices of sheep and oxen, probably
the firstlings of the flock and of the herd, which were slain at
evening, and feasted on during the night in the Temple
Courts by the offerers and their families, not forsaking the
needy Levite, 48 and in the morning they went to their
homes.

Very different are the directions for the observance of this
Passover laid down in the Later Levitical Law. Here, too,
it is represented as a memorial of the deliverance of Israel
out of Egypt. 49 But instead of the firstlings ' of the flock
and of the herd,' the priestly legislator, having elsewhere
assigned these exclusively to the use of the priests, 50 orders a
lamb or kid, ' a male of the first year/ to be slain by each
householder on this occasion, the flesh to be expressly roasted,
not boiled, and to be eaten with bitter herbs, not by the
whole body of worshippers assembled together in the Temple
Court, but by each offerer with his family and friends in his
own house, the lintel and side-posts of which were to be
smeared with the blood, — to be eaten by him hurriedly, with
' his loins girded, his shoes on his feet, and his staff in his
hand.' 61 Again, the Deuteronomist orders that the seventh
day of the Feast of Mazzoth shall be kept as a day of re-
straint, on which no work should be done ; 52 so that, on re-
turning to their homes from the Temple in the morning of
the first day of the Feast, they would be at liberty to do
what they liked for the rest of the day, and until the seventh

** p. 1 20- 1. 47 G.xxii.13. ** D.xii.17,18. <• E.xii. 24-27.

*• N.xviii. 15-18. sl E.xii.5-11. " D.xvi.8.

270 THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

day began at evening. But the Levitical Law orders the first
day to be kept, as well as the seventh, as a day of ' holy
Convocation ' — ' no manner of work shall be done in them/ M
Both writers explained the custom that only unleavened
bread was eaten on this occasion by reference to the hasty
march out of Egypt. 54 But the Deuteronomist makes no
allusion whatever to the sparing of the firstborns of Israel as
the ground of this rite : whereas the Levitical Law derives
the name Pesach from the verbpasach, * pass-over/ not because
the firstborns and firstlings were made to ' pass-over to Jeho-
vah/ but in memory of the fact that Jehovah had 'passed-
over by the houses of the Israelites, 65 when he slew the
Egyptian firstborns and firstlings. Moreover, it represents
the Levites and their cattle as taken to be Jehovah's, about
a year afterwards, in place of all the firstborns and firstlings
in Israel : — ' thou shalt take the Levites for Me instead of
all the firstborns among the children of Israel, and the cattle
of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of
the children of Israel/ 56 And then, in another place, 57 with
strange inconsistency, he claims in Jehovah's Name these
very same firstborns and firstlings from all Israel for the use
of the priests, the former to be redeemed with money and the
latter to be eaten. This last fact is enough by itself to show
that we have here no history properly so called : though indi-
rectly we read here the history of later times, and see how it
was sought after the Captivity to account for the Levites
being separated as servants of the Sanctuary, in subordina-
tion to the 'priests the sons of Aaron/ and at the same
time to secure for these latter a plentiful supply of fees and of
food.

Long before this, however, in the priestly Legislation, the
Levites have been introduced inadvertenly as connected

** E.xii.i6. *« D.xvi.3, E.xii.u. " E.xii.27.

*• N.iii.45. * N.xviii. 15-18.

THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER. 271

with the Sanctuary and subordinated to the priests, 68 though,
as the story now stands, not a word had yet been said about
their being set apart for sacred duties. So the priestly Legis-
lator speaks repeatedly of the 'shekel of the Sanctuary/ or holy
shekel, when no Sanctuary, according to the story, was in ex-
istence 59 — a designation which is used in other passages of
these later laws, 60 and with which the writer in his own days
was, no doubt, familiar, though it occurs nowhere else in the
Bible. Thus in one place of Exodus Jehovah lays a tax
upon the people of half a shekel for each male adult, ' ac-
cording to the holy shekel ; ' 6l and the amount of silver thus
received is carefully accounted for as expended in making
different parts of the Tabernacle. 62 But here we have light
thrown at once upon the age in which this passage was
written. For we find it stated that in the time of Ezra and
Nehemiah, long after the Captivity, the people laid upon
themselves a yearly Temple-tax of a third of a shekel for de-
fraying the expenses of public worship, 63 a tribute which
must have been raised at some later day to half a shekel, -as
it existed, we know, in our Saviour's time. 64 No reference,
however, is here made to any legislative direction already ex-
isting for such a tribute being levied ; but the people volun-
tarily bind themselves to contribute annually the sum in
question — one-tAtrd of a shekel. From this it is plain that
the Law, which Ezra is represented as at this very time en-
forcing with all his might, 66 contained no such command as
yet, fixing half*, shekel for the Temple-tax. In other words,
it must have been inserted after the time of Ezra and Nehe-
miah, as one of the very latest portions of the Levitical Law,
which appears to have been composed by priestly writers at

48 E.xxxviii.21. •• E. xxx. 1 3, 24, xxx viii. 24-26.

60 L.v.i5,xxvii.3,25, N.iii.47,5o,vii. I3,i9,&c. (fourteen times), xviii. 16.
«• E.xxx.u-16. •* E.xxxviii. 25-28. " Neh.x.32.

" Matt.xvii.24, Gr. didrachmon = half a shekel. •» Neh.viii.

272 THE ORIGIN OF THE PESACH OR PASSOVER.

different periods, partly in Babylonia, partly at Jerusalem,
between the years 600 and 450 B.C.

I have now explained what appears to have been the true
origin of the rite of the Pesach, which the Israelites adopted
from the Canaanite tribes, but which comes to us in the
Bible disguised under the modifications introduced in later
times. The sacrifice in question was supposed to be pleasing
to the Deity, one that would propitiate His Favour and
secure His Blessing. And as such it was regarded by St.
Paul as the type of him who was the true paschal lamb,
whose offering of himself in life and in death is the standing
exemplar for all ages of that living sacrifice which we our-
selves are daily to be offering, ' holy, acceptable unto God,
which is our reasonable service.' 66 ' Christ our Passover is
sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the Feast, not with the
old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth/ 67 This is the lesson for us to
learn, that the lives of all true-hearted men of all times, of
all countries, classes, religions, acting faithfully according to
the light which God has given them, help to ' fill up/ as the
same apostle says, ' that which is behind of the afflictions of
Christ/ M and are parts of that great Sacrifice, offered by God's
dear children on behalf of the whole human race, with which
the Father is well-pleased.

66 Rom.xii.i. % n 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. •» Col. i. 24.

>**£

f^4^

LECTURE XX.

SUMMARY.

Difficulties felt by different classes of readers in respect of the contents of
the Pentateuch ; some of these may be got rid of by rationalising processes,
as in the New Commentary ; there remains the impossibility of reconciling
the later history of Israel with the Levitical Legislation, supposed to be
Mosaic and Divine ; some real movement out of Egypt must lie at the basis
of the story of the Exodus ; Manetho's accounts of the Shepherd-Kings and the
Leprous People ; the latter probably to be identified with the Israelites, the
former with kindred tribes of Eastern origin, who had previously settled on
the confines of Egypt and Canaan ; probable oppression of the Israelites
under Rameses II., and date of the Exodus ; the O.S. does not imply that
forty years were spent in the wilderness ; this term,' expressing merely an
indefinite long time, first applied to the wanderings in popular talk, and used
in this sense by Amos, was introduced by the Deuteronomist into the story
of the Exodus, though in the original address of Moses only as a time of
probation, not of judgment, as in his later insertions ; our language full of
allusions to the Exodus ; mistakes often made in drawing such comparisons.

THE REAL HISTORY OF THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL.

• E have now examined the Pentateuch sufficiently
to be able to form some clear idea of the manner
in which it has been composed, by writers of
different ages, whose contributions betray the spirit
of the times in which they lived, and reveal to us the secret
history and movements mainly of those times, and not of the
Mosaic age, as is commonly supposed. We are thus relieved
at once from the burden of maintaining that all the miraculous
stories of these Books are historically true — a burden which
many in the present age of general enlightenment have found
too heavy to be borne. But, if the faith of some is staggered by
these things, there are others who have schooled themselves
into the habit of looking upon such stories as no essential part
of the Mosaic narrative, and who are ready to ascribe them to
the processes which would be actively at work in a primitive
age, adorning simple facts with marvellous adjuncts. It is
true, it is not so easy to dispose of all the wonderful incidents
in the Pentateuch in this way. The ten plagues may be ex-
plained as mere exaggerations of natural occurrences ; for
travellers tell us how at certain seasons the waters of the Nile
are red as blood, how dense the gloom is sometimes at mid-
day, how destructive are the hailstorms, how painful the boils,

T 2

?76 THE REAL HISTORY OF

how deadly the murrains and pestilences. 4 The miracle at
the Red Sea/ it may be said, 'may have been only the
crossing an arm of that Sea, when the waters are very low,
as they sometimes are now under the influence of certain
winds, the cessation of which, with the springing up of a contrary
wind, makes the waves return violently where shortly before
had been dry land.' Of course, we are not to suppose that
Jehovah Himself ranked the ' hare ' among ruminant animals
because of the quivering movement of its lips, though the
Bible distinctly says so, 1 or that the Creator classed the
1 mouse * and the ' mole ' in the same category of ' creeping
things ' with the ' snail ' and the ' lizard/ as again in the Bible
he is represented to have done. 2 It was Moses who really
made these statements and desired to secure Divine authority
for his own laws by ascribing them to Jehovah. This,
in fact, is exactly what the New Commentary does, which
says, ' It was not the object of the legislator to give a scientific
classification of animals ; ' * and again, ' The distinction of
animals laid down by Moses agrees in the main with that
recognized by other nations than the Hebrews ; M and again,
1 The ordinance of Moses was for the whole nation/ 6 In this
way many will be able to rationalize away to their own
satisfaction most of the stupendous narratives of miraculous
interference in the Pentateuch ; though there will be some
of these still, as the utterance of the Ten Commandments
in two different forms in Exodus and Deuteronomy, which
would still present a difficulty. 6

But there are those again who seem able to pass over, or
at least to pass by, the stumbling-blocks caused even by those
miracles which appear to be interwoven into the very texture
of the Mosaic story. For such persons the difficulty is felt to
be much greater to reconcile the later portion of the Jewish

1 L.xii-6. ' f.29,30. • A C.I. p. 546.

4 AC.l.p.557. % lb. * p.101-3.

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL, 277

History, as it lies before us in the Bible, with the earliest
portion of it, assuming this to have been substantially in ac-
cordance with the story told in the middle three Books of the
Pentateuch. If the account given in those books of the
priestly and sacrificial system be true in the main — that is, if
these institutions and practices did really originate in that
early age, under Mosaic, at all events, if not under direct
Divine, authority, — how is it possible, they feel, to explain
the extraordinary contradictions to this supposed fact, which
meet us everywhere in the records of the history, from the
Book of Judges to the very end of the Second Book of Kings,
where we find not a trace of these priestly laws being duly
observed under the best of kings, or of any distinction being
made between the priests and the Levites ? Here and there,
by the ingenuity of traditionary writers, some feint reference
may be imagined to the observance of one or other of those
laws. But the whole labour of such writers is painfully spent^
not in accumulating clear and overwhelming proofs of these
laws having been recognized as authoritative and Divine,
at least by the most devout princes and priests and prophets,
and in Israel's best days, but in trying to extract some faint
evidence of this from words which do not really yield it, and
explaining away the stubborn facts of a contrary character
which appear in every page of the history.

Let us now see if it is possible to reconstruct to some
extent the actual history of the Hebrew people, and to sketch
some more rational account of their early doings than the
traditionary view affords.

Upon consideration of the whole question, it can scarcely
be doubted that some real movement out of Egypt in former
days must underlie the story of the Exodus. It is incon-
ceivable that such a narrative should have been written by
any Hebrew without some real tradition giving the hint for
it. What motive, for instance, could he have had for taking

27»

THE REAL HISTORY OF

his own people into Egypt, representing them as having lived
there as miserable slaves, and bringing them out of Egypt
into Canaan, unless he had derived it from reminiscences of
some former residence of the Hebrews in Egypt, under
painful and humiliating circumstances, and of some great
deliverance ?

Thus, then, it is by no means necessary to suppose that
the narrative in question is from beginning to end a pure
fiction. It is probable that there may have been floating
about in the memories of the Hebrew tribes many legendary
stories of former striking events in their history — how they
once were oppressed for many years in Egypt — how they fled
in a large body out of that ' house of servants ' under some
eminent leader such as Moses — how they had crossed the
shallow extremity of the Red Sea when the waters were low,
and had been led through that ' great and terrible wilderness,'
and had encamped under the dreadful Mount, with its
blackened peaks and precipices, as if they had been burnt
with fire — how they had lost themselves in the dreary waste,
and struggled on through great sufferings, and many died,
but the rest found their way at last into the land of Canaan,
and made good their footing among the tribes settled there,
and by whom they were called ' Hebrews/ or ' people who
had crossed,' that is, had crossed the Euphrates, just as by
the natives of Natal the refugees from Zululand are spoken •
of as abawelayo, ' people who have crossed ' the Tugela. It
is natural that the recollections of such a march should have
left indelible traces upon the minds of the people, and the
real facts may thus have been exaggerated and distorted in
the popular talk, as is the case with legends generally, while
circulated from one to another and passed on by word of
mouth, from sire to son, in the intervening age. In this way
natural occurrences may have been magnified into prodigies,
some weary months or years into forty years of wandering,

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. . 279

and many thousands multiplied into two or three millions of
people. And, if so, it is difficult to avoid the conviction that
the story quoted by Josephus from the Egyptian writer
Manetho, who lived about B.c. 250, and declares that he
translated it out of the sacred books of Egypt, must have
some connexion with this movement.

This, then, somewhat abridged, is what Manetho records :—
1 There was a king of ours named Timaeus, under whom it
came to pass that for some reason or other the Deity was
averse to us. And strangely there came ignoble men out of
the eastern regions who were bold enough to invade our land,
and easily subdued it by force, without our risking a battle
with them. So they seized our rulers and burnt down our
cities, and demolished the temples of the gods, and treated
barbarously all the inhabitants, slaying some and enslaving
their wives and children. At length they made one of them-,
selves king, by name Salatis, who lived at Memphis, and
made Upper and Lower Egypt pay tribute, and established
garrisons, securing chiefly the eastern parts, for fear of the
Assyrians. He rebuilt also the city of Avaris, and made it
very strong with walls and a garrison of 240,000 armed men.
After him reigned five other kings, the six ruling 254 years,
and all along making war with the Egyptians. These were
called the Hyksds or Shepherd-Kings, and some say that
these people were Arabians. They held Egypt 511 years,
when the Egyptian kings waged a long and terrible war with
them, at the end of which they were driven into Avaris, from
which they were allowed, on condition of leavfng Egypt, to go
uninjured wherever they liked. Accordingly, they went with
all their families, in number 240,000, and marched through
the wilderness for Syria ; but, fearing the Assyrians, they
built a city in that country, which is now called Judaea, and
named it Jerusalem.' 7

7 adv. Ap.\.\^\$.

280 THE REAL HISTORY OF

Thus far, says Josephus, Manetho has followed the sacred
records, and he has no doubt that these ' Shepherd-Kings '
were the people of Israel. But here he has manifestly been
misled by his national vanity to claim these great achieve-
ments to be placed to the credit of his own forefathers. For,
if Israel had really lorded it over Egypt for a considerable
period in this manner, we should surely have found some
trace of this fact in the Scripure story, and the sojourning in
Goshen would not have been represented as a time at best of
insignificance, and at last of abject misery. But Josephus
then further tells us that, besides this account taken from
the sacred records, Manetho has also introduced, out of his
own head or from mere rumour, ' incredible narratives/ — such
as follows: —

• Long after the expulsion of the Shepherd-Kings, king
Amenophis wished to see the gods, and was told that he
might see them if he would clear the whole land of the lepers
and other unclean people. Accordingly, he collected these
people out of all Egypt, to the number of 80,000, and sent
them to work in the quarries on the East of the Nile. After a
while they petitioned for relief from that hard labour, and
the king assigned to them the city of Avaris, which had once
belonged to the Shepherds, but was now uninhabited. Here
they chose one Osarsiph, priest of On or Heliopolis, the city
of the Sun, for their leader, and swore to obey him in all things.
He first made a law that they were not to worship the gods
of Egypt, that they were to kill the animals held sacred in
Egypt, and not associate with the Egyptians. Then he re-
built their walls, and sent a message to the " Shepherds " in
Jerusalem to come and help them. So they came to Avaris in
great numbers, and for thirteen years the " lepers " lorded it in
Lower Egypt. Meanwhile these " lepers," with their allies the
" Shepherds," had committed dreadful outrages, burning towns
and cities, breaking the images of the gods, and eating the

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 281

flesh of the sacred animals, which they compelled the priests
to kill ; and all this was done by direction of Osarsiph, the
priest of Osiris the Sun-God, an Egyptian by birth, who, on
going over to this people, changed his name to Moses. At last
Amenophis the king came against them from the south with
a great army, and his son Rameses with another, and together
they fought with the " lepers " and " Shepherds," and after a
great slaughter chased them as far as the frontiers of
Syria.' 8

Josephus, who adopts the first legend completely, is very
angry at the notion of this Leprous People being supposed
to be the Hebrews, and has, of course, no difficulty in showing
that, as it now stands, this narrative cannot be historically
true. Yet it is probable that we have here the Egyptian
version of the exodus of Israel. The Egyptians regarded all
foreigners as unclean, and would be likely enough to call these
nomadic tribes, who like the Shepherd-Kings before them
had made their way from the far East beyond the Euphrates,
to settle in the fertile land of Egypt, a ' leprous ' people.
According to this account also, the harsh measures of the
Egyptians, and in particular the' slavish service imposed by
them, gave occasion to the rebellion . of those oppressed, and
ultimately led to their being driven out of Egypt and pursued
as far as the Syrian frontier. All this, as well as the violence
done to the gods of Egypt, agrees sufficiently with the
Hebrew account of the Exodus to make it very probable
that we have here only another version of that event from a
different point of view.- And Amenophis, the Egyptian king,
is identified by Egyptologists with Menoptha, son of Rameses
II., so that this Rameses may have been the oppressor who
reduced the Israelites to slavery. This fully agrees with the
character of that monarch, who during the last fifty-six years

• adv. Af. 1.26,27.

282 THE REAL HISTORY OF '

of his long reign was occupied exclusively with home-enter-
prises, e.g. with building temples and palaces, whose ruins are
still the astonishment of travellers. It is confirmed also by
the circumstance that one of the cities said to have been
built by the Israelites was called Rameses, 9 and its remains
now discovered show that it was* Rameses II. under whom it
was built According to this view, the Exodus of the Israelites
out of Egypt took place about B.C. 1 320, nearly two centuries
after the date usually assigned to it.

Such, then, was very probably the basis upon which the
Scripture story of the Exodus has been founded. No doubt,
as I have said, the Israelites on their march to Canaan en-
dured great hardships and encountered formidable difficulties,
the memory of which, handed down from age to age during
two or three centuries, may have given rise to some of the
wonderful stories in the narrative, while others are merely the
result of the natural growth of legendary matter, or are due
to the inventive imagination of the writer or writers. It
must be observed, however, that in the Original Story there
is no sign of any very long period, such as forty years, having
been consumed in the wanderings. On the contrary, in that
Story the people are carried on at once from Sinai till they
reach the southern boundary of Canaan, 10 when Moses sends
out spies to search the land, 11 upon whose return the people
murmur because of the formidable enemies they will have to
encounter, 19 and, as a punishment for this, instead of being
allowed to enter Canaan at once from the south, they are
ordere4 to turn and go back again into the wilderness
towards the Red Sea ; l8 and, accordingly, being refused a
passage across the Edomite territory, 14 they march southward
until they reach its southern extremity, when they turn again
towards the north coast, along its eastern border, and reach

• E.i.u. »• E.xxxiii.1,2, N.x.29-33,xi.34,35,xii.i6.

11 N.xiii.1-3. I2 N.xiv.i. " tf.25. H N.xx. 14-21.

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 283

the plains of Moab, 19 and so at last they enter Canaan from
the east across the Jordan. 16 For all this a comparatively
short time would have sufficed, except that they are spoken
of as 'dwelling* at Kadesh 17 or Petra, perhaps for a few
months only, as afterwards they are said to have ' dwelt ' at
Shittim, 18 where, according to the story as it now stands, they
can only have remained three or four months at the most 19
But they came to Kadesh, we are told, 'in the first month ' *
— it is not said in what year of the wanderings ; but it is
natural to suppose that the second year must be meant, since
the movements hitherto in the Original Story have been to-
wards the end of the first year. 91 If, however, this datum
of ' forty years ' had belonged to the Original Story, we should
have to suppose either here or somewhere else in this chapter
before the account of the death of Aaron, 22 which occurred in
the fortieth year, 23 a sudden leap of thirty-eight years in the
narrative — a circumstance which has greatly perplexed the
most eminent commentators. Thus the New Commentary
tells us that we must understand the words to mean ' in the
first month of the fortieth year of the Exodus.' 24

The fact is, as I have said, that the Original Story said
nothing about these ' forty years/ though it implied a long
and tedious wandering in the wilderness. This vexatious delay

w N.xxi.4, 10-20. >• j.Ui.14-17.

17 N.xx.1,16, camp. D.i.46, Ju.xi.i7 t near Mount Hor, N.xxxiii.36,37, most
probably the famous rock-city of Petra, to be carefully distinguished from Kadesh,
» Kadesh-Barnea, in the wilderness of Paran, to which the spies returned,
N.xiii.26, D.i.i9,xxxii.8, J.xiv.6.

»• N. xxv. 1. «• B. C. I. p. 650. *• N. xx. I.

11 The dates in E.xvLib,xixi, N.i.i,ix.i,xxxiii.38 t all belong to the L.L.
But, according to the O.S., the Exodus took place in the Spring, E.xxiii.15,
after which are mentioned ' forty days ' twice, E.xxiv. i8,xxxiv.28, 'three days,'
N.x.33, * a month* (?), N.xi.20, 'seven days,' N.xiL 15, that is, about four months
altogether ; so that, allowing' for the march to Sinai, the searching of the south of
Canaan, N.xiii. 22-24, the murmuring, N.xiv, and the rebellion, N.xvi, the first
year may be supposed to have come to an end.

n N. xx. 23-29. u N.xxxiii.38. u jff.CI.p.721.

284 THE REAL HISTORY OF

became at length spoken of in the common talk as extending
over ' forty years/ this being a very common formula among
the Hebrews for expressing an indefinitely long period ; ** as
where Ezekiel says of the desolation of Egypt ' No foot of
man shall pass through it, nor foot, of beast shall pass through
it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years ; and I will make
the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the lands that are
desolate, and her cities, among the cities that are laid waste,
shall be desolate forty years!™ Hence the prophet Amos,
about two centuries and a half after the story of the Exodus
was written, already adopts the idea of ' forty years ' of
wandering, and writes ' I brought you up from the land of
Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to
possess the land of the Amorite ; ' ** and again, ' Was it sacri-
fices and offerings that ye brought near to me in the wilder-
ness forty years, O House of Israel ? ' M A century and a
half later still the Deuteronomist first introduces it into the
story as told in the Pentateuch, 29 and from him the still later
Levitical Legislator has copied it 80 Amos, however, speaks
merely of Jehovah's leading Israel through the wilderness,
and gives no hint that during those forty years ' all the men
of war* perished out of the host, as the Deuteronomist says, 81
and after him the Levitical Legislator. 82 Nor does the
Deuteronomist give any hint of this in his original work, the
address of Moses in D.v, &c, in which the forty years are
spoken of, not as a time of punishment, but as a time of pro-
bation, during which they enjoyed Jehovah's watchful care
and guidance, while He was ' proving ' them and training
them as children by chastisement. ' And thou shalt remem-
ber all the way which JEHOVAH thy Elohim led thee these

* Ju. iii. 1 1 , viii. 28, xiii 1, 1 S. iv. 18, xvii. 16, iK. xix. 8, Jon. iii. 4, &c.

*• Ez.xxix.11,12. " Am.ii. IO. M Am. v. 25.

" D.i.3,ii.7,viii.2,xxix.5, J. v. 6.

■• N.xiv.33,34,xxxiii.38 — alsoE.vi.7, cotnp. D.xxxi.2,xxxiv.7, N.xxxiii.39.

>l D.iLi4,i5. n N.xiv.29-35,xxvi.64,65.

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 285

forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, to prove thee,
to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep
His commandments or no.' M « And I have led you forty
years in the wilderness ; your clothes are not waxen old upon
you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot' M In
shprt, the Deuteronomist is here merely following the lead of
the Original Story, which sends back the Israelites ' by the
way of the Red Sea ' to wander yet awhile in the wilderness,
until ' those who had despised JEHOVAH '—not the whole body
of warriors— should perish.** It is only in his later insertions
that he speaks of this time as a time of judgment for all that
doomed generation ; M though even here he says, 'JEHOVAH
thy Elohim hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hands ;
He knoweth thy walking though this great wilderness ; these
forty years Jehovah thy Elohim hath been with thee ; thoij
hast lacked nothing.' **

So thoroughly, however, have we all from our childhood
been imbued with this story, so thoroughly has it penetrated
our everyday language, that pious persons will often speak
or sing of their weary wanderings in this wilderness-life, of
the manna which has fed them by the way, of the water by
which they have been refreshed from time to time, of the
swelling Jordan-flood, through which they expect to pass to
their rest in the Promised Land — though, in point of fact, the
' main struggles of the Israelites with their foes took place in
Canaan itself, after — not before— they had crossed the
Jordan. 88 For maijy, doubtless, whose lives have been heavily
burdened with care and sorrow, there will seem to be great
meaning in Such resemblances, and we can all understand the
force of those words, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from heaven ' — that is, it was my
Father who gave it then, who gave food for the body and

" D.viii.2. •* D.xxix.5. •» N.xiv.22,23.

" D.l34,35,ii.i4,i5, J.v.4-6. •» D.ii.7. u J.vi,viii.i-29,ix.i,2 J x-xii.

286 THE REAL HISTORY OF

soul to the men of old ; * it is my Father also who giveth you
now the true bread from heaven — my Father and your
Father, my God and your God. For the bread of God is
that which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the
world ' " — the living bread, the ' flesh and blood ' of Christ's
Divine Doctrine, which we eat and drink, whenever we ap-
proach in a right spirit the Holy Table. For, as Clement
of Alexandria says, ' In saying, Eat ye my flesh and drink ye
my blood, he was manifestly speaking by an allegory of the
drink of faith and of the promise ' 40 — as Tertullian says,
' While describing the word as life-giving, because the word
was spirit and life, he called the same also his flesh, because
the word also was made flesh, something forsooth to be
hungered after for life's sake, to be devoured by hearing,
ruminated upon by the understanding, digested by faith ' 4I —
as Origen explains it, ' We are said to drink the blood of
Christ, when we receive his discourses ; his flesh is meat indeed
and his blood is drink indeed, inasmuch as he supplies and re-
freshes the whole race of men with the flesh and with the
blood of his word, as with pure meat and drink ; ... in the
second place, after his flesh, Peter and Paul and all the
apostles are clean meat ; in the third place, their disciples ;
and thus everyone, in proportion to his excellencies or the
purity of his sentiments, is made clean meat to his neighbour ' 4f
— as EUSEBIUS tells us, ' His words and his discourses are
the flesh and the blood, of which he who partakes, ever
nourished, as it were, with heavenly bread, will partake of
heavenly life ' 48 — or Jerome, * The body of Jesus I take to be
the Gospel, the Holy Scriptures ; I take it to be his doctrine.
If, then, we hear the word, and both the word of God and the
flesh and blood of Christ is poured into our ears, while we

" John vi.32. *° 7W.I.vi. 41 de Res. Cam, xxxvil

«■ Horn. vii. in. Lev. " de Eccl. ThwL III.au

THE EXODUS OF ISRAEL. 287

are thinking of something else, into how great danger do we
run!' 44

But perhaps men and women have thought sometimes
too much of life as a wilderness, in which they were to
travel painfully on, or, rather, to wander purposely about,
so long as it pleased God to keep them there, instead of
regarding it as a blessed working-time, a time in which
God is best to be glorified by working for the good of man,
and remembering our Saviour's own words, which he has
left for the guidance and encouragement of his followers,
'My Father worketh hitherto, and therefore I work' 45 —
' My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish
His work.' 46

44 in Ps.cxlvii. ** John v. 1 7. *• John iv.34.

LECTURE XXI.

u

SUMMARY,

Edom, Moab, and Ammon, perhaps belonged to the shepherd kings of
Manetho's story ; the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites slow and gradual,
like the Anglo-Saxon conquest of England ; the time of the Judges to Saul
first king ; the name Yahveh first heard by them at the time of the
Exodus as the name of the Sun-God ; they adopted the practices of the"
Canaanite tribes, and worshipped Yahveh with heathen rites, as the Baal or
Lord of the land ; hence Israelitish, as well as Phoenician, names were com-
pounded indifferently with Baal or Yahveh ; distinction, though no sub-
stantial difference, between the Tyrian and the Syrian Baal ; Yahveh, in
other words, lacchus or Bacchus, may have been worshipped from the first
by the Israelites alter their settlement in Canaan, especially by the northern
tribes ; in Saul's time Yahveh was first recognised as the National Deity of
'Israel under the influence of Samuel; the Cross worn as symbol of the
Sun-God in very ancient times.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

■E have seen that the Israelites, according to their
own tradition, entered Canaan from the eastern
border, having passed by the kindred tribes of-
Edom, Moab, and Ammon, without a conflict,
though as regards Edom and Moab perhaps not altogether in
a friendly manner, since the Original Story represents these
two peoples as refusing to allow the Israelites to pass through
their territory. 1 These tribes were all of Hebrew origin, that
is, like Israel, they had crossed the Euphrates, having migrated
from the further East in search of richer or less crowded
pastures. Accordingly, they are all reckoned as descendants
of Terah the father of Abraham, 2 who ' dwelt across the flood
in the olden time ' ; 3 and, as they must have been already
long settled in these parts when the Israelites arrived on their
borders, they may very possibly have belonged to the Shep-
herd-Kings of Manetho's story. 4 And so the Deuteronomist
represents Moses as saying that Jehovah had given their
respective countries to Edom, Moab, and Ammon, 5 as He
now would give to Israel the land of Canaan, 6 and therefore
commanded Israel not to molest them. And this fact, that

1 N.xx. 14-21, Ju.xi. 16,17.

4 p. 279.

2 G.xi.27,xix.36-38,xxv. 19-30. ■ J.xxiv.2.
» D.ii.5,9,19. • D.i.8.

v 2

292 THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

the Israelites did certainly abstain from disturbing those
nations, while they did not spare the Amorites, who had
invaded and permanently occupied a portion of the land of
Moab, 7 suggests the existence of a special relation between
. them, such as that which Manetho's story implies between the
' Shepherd-Kings ' and the ' Leprous People/

Having first made the conquest of the trans-Jordanic lands,
the Israelites in due time must have crossed the Jordan,
though in some natural way, and without the help of that
stupendous miracle recorded in the Book of Joshua — far more
stupendous even than the crossing of the Red Sea — when the
waters of that river in a state of flood, and overflowing all its
banks, ' stood as they came down from above ' and ' rose up
upon an heap/ while three millions of men, women, and chil-
dren, with all their herds and flocks, passed over on dry
ground. 8 Here they made goocf their footing in the land,
partly by fighting, partly by intriguing, partly by inter-
marrying with the old inhabitants, just exactly as the Anglo-
Saxon conquest of England was effected. How many the
Israelites were at this time it is impossible to say : but as-
suredly they were not the mighty host stated in the Pentateuch,
and probably they were not one-tenth of that number, or even
one-hundredth. That the Canaanites, however, were not
utterly destroyed, but lived on in the land, mixing probably
for the most part on friendly terms with the Israelites, and
gradually blending with them and disappearing, is plain from
express statements in the Book of Judges, 9 as well as from
David's friendship with the Phoenicians, 10 who are reckoned
among the tribes to be extirpated, 11 and from Solomon's
marrying women of the Hittites, 12 and levying a tribute of
bondservice upon the remnant of the Amorites, Hittites,

T N.xxi.24-26, Ju.xi. 12-23. 9 J.iH. 15-17.

9 Ju.i. 21, 27-36, xix. 10-12, comp. iS.vii. 14, 2S.v.6-9,xxiv. 16,18.

10 2S.V.H, iK.v.i. » J.xiii.6,xix.28, 29. ia iK.xi.i, comp. x.29.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL, 293

Pcrizzitcs, Hivites, and Jebusites, still existing in his days, 13
three centuries after the Exodus. We learn also, from the
history contained in the Book of Judges, that the tribes of
Israel did not for some considerable time exist as one nation,
but either acted independently of each other, 14 or else com-
bined in larger or smaller bodies, 15 as circumstances required.
In short, the mighty conquests, which are ascribed to the
leadership of Moses and Joshua, and are represented as the
achievements of a few weeks, were most probably effected in
a much longer period, and by much more gradual and every-
day processes.

Hence about 120 years seem to have passed after the
entrance into Canaan, during the time commonly known
as the time of the Judges, till the days when ' the words of
Samuel came to all Israel/ 16 during the greater part of which
Eli must have lived, if he was really 98 years old at his death
soon afterwards. 17 Probably Eli, like the other Judges, only
judged a portion of ' all Israel/ and some of them may have
been contemporary with others, 'judging* or ruling in different
parts of the land at the same time. But even Samuel, in the
discharge of his office, seems to have confined his personal
administration of justice to a very small circuit in Judah and
Benjamin, viz. Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, sacred places
which he visited in turn around his birthplace and dwelling-
place at Ramah; 18 and he afterwards made his sons judges
at Beersheba in the south of Judah, 19 on the frontier of Egypt.
In short, the life of Israel as a fiation had not yet begun ; and,
though the attempt had been made at some time to set up a

" iK.ix.20,21. " 'Ephraim,' Ju.iii.27, 'Gilead' or 'Gad,' xi.n,

comp. xii. 1-6.

14 Ju.v. 15-17, where complaint is made that Reuben, Gad, Dan, and A&her
took no part in the fight, while Judah, Simeon, and Levi are not even mentioned
— v *«35»vii.23, comp. viii.1-3, where Gideon summons only Manasseh, Ashcr,
Zebulun, and Napthali — xx,xxi, where 'all Israel' fight with Benjamin.

'• iS.iv.i. I7 i'.i5. I9 iS.vii. 15-17. ,9 iS.viii. i,2.

294 1HE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

king in the person of Gideon, 30 and in that of his son Abimelech, 91
it had altogether failed. Only at last, when Samuel grew old,
and his sons ' turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and
perverted judgment/ we read that 'all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto
Ramah and said unto him, Lo ! thou art old, and thy sons
walk not in thy way : now make us a king to judge us like
all the nations.' M And Samuel complied with their request, 23
and thus the nation was united for the first time under Saul,
who, after gaining as leader of the Hebrew forces a decisive
victory over the Ammonites, was ' made king before JEHOVAH
at the Gilgal.' 24

' Before Jehovah/ says the text just quoted, and we must
now look back once more upon the religious history of Israel.
We have already seen in a former Lecture 25 that, according
to the most ancient writer in the Pentateuch, the people had
never heard this name until the time of the Exodus, when it
is stated to have been specially revealed to Moses ; before
which time, in Egypt and previous to their arrival there, they
had only used the name ' Elohim/ God, or ' El Shaddai/
God Almighty, as the personal name of the Deity. And
this, as I observed, when translated into real historical fact,
can mean only this, that the Israelites first Jteard. the name
JEHOVAH about the time of the Exodus. In Egypt and pre-
viously they had probably used the name Elohim or El
Shaddai ; and either in Egypt itself or on their way to
Canaan they may have made an ark of ' shittim ' or acacia
wood for sacred purposes from the trees which grew, as they
still do, in the wilderness, as also in certain parts of Egypt,
in which ark was carried some symbol of the Deity, after the
example of those which are exhibited on Egyptian monuments
as carried about by the priests in religious processions, 26 and

20 Ju.viii.22. 2I Ju.ix.i-6. ** lS.viii.F-5. " iS.x.24,25.

21 iS.xi.15. » p. 75,76. *» Diet. of the Bitot, I. p.106-7.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL. 295

with which, of course, the enslaved Hebrews had long been
familiar. Moreover, as we have seen, 27 the tribe of Levi, the
leader's own tribe, seems from the first to have been specially
set apart, again after Egyptian fashion, as a sacred caste for
the work of the priesthood. But they heard the name JEHO-
VAH or Yahveh first, not just before the Exodus, as the story
represents it, but just after it, as soon as they had reached
the land of Canaan. For there, in the worship of the Syrian
tribes in the northern district, the mysterious name of the
Sun-God, the Baal or Lord, ' the God of the land/ 2d was
Yakhveh, or, as pronounced by the more southern tribes,
Yahveh, 'Living-One/ or 'Life-Giver'; 29 from whom it
came gradually into use among the Israelites, as they became
settled in their new abodes, and wished to be protected by
the local Deity whose land they had possessed. Thus David
says, ' They have driven me out this day from cleaving to the
inheritance of Yahveh, saying, Go, serve another Elohim/ 30
and Naaman asks, 'Shall there not now be given to thy
servant two mules' load of earth ? for thy servant will hence-
forth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to another
Elohim, but only unto Yahveh 181 — from which we see how
intimately connected, in the views of that age, was the
worship of Yahveh with the very soil of the land of Canaan.
Of course, the prophets of Israel would be very unwilling
to allow that the name was derived from the idolatrous
Canaanites ; and hence they tried to account for its becoming
known to Israel by the supposition of a direct revelation to
Moses. And so, too, ' the Gilgal ' or ' Circle/ near Jericho on
the banks of the Jordan, was in all probability merely a circle
of twelve large stones, — the number perhaps referring to the
twelve months of the year or the twelve Signs of the Zodiac
— which the Hebrews found already set up in the primeval

v p. 240. »• 2K.XVH.26-28. * p. 77.

30 1S.xxvi.19. ■' 2K.V.17.

296 THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

times for Sun-worship, like our own famous circle at Stone-
henge ; and it would be as easy for an active imagination to
devise some incident in ancient British history, to account for
the erection of these stones, as it was for the Hebrew writer
to represent the twelve stones as having been set up at the
Gilgal in memory of the miraculous passage of the Jordan
by the twelve tribes, 82 as well as other twelve which 'Joshua
set up in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet
of the priests who bare the ark of the covenant, stood — and
they are there unto this day.' 88

Accordingly, we find many features of the Israelitish
worship derived from that of the Canaanites, as, for instance,
from that of the Phoenicians, by whose help the Temple of
Solomon was built. 34 Thus the ' gourds,' ' lilies/ ' palm-trees/
' open flowers/ i pomegranates/ which ornamented the
Temple, 85 and the ' two brazen pillars * which were placed at
the entrance of it, 86 all appear in Phoenician temples, and
belong mostly to the worship of the Sun-God, being used to
symbolise in various ways the life awakened by the Sun's in-
fluence in nature. And so Solomon built high-places on the
Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem, for ' Molech ' and ' Che-
mosh/ 87 the names under which the Sun-God was worshipped
by his Ammonite and Moabite wives, and another for Ashte-
roth or Astarte, the Moon-Goddess, 88 for the use of his
Sidonian and Phoenician wives, and he, no doubt, himself
took part in their worship, as indeed we are expressly told
' Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians
and after Molech the abomination of the Moabites ' ; 89 and
these high-places remained throughout the reigns of the most
pious kings, until they were destroyed by Josiah 40 in the
Great Reformation, after the finding of the Book of Deutero-

n J. iv. 20-24.

" J.iv.9-

,4 iK.vii.13,14.

» iK.vi.29,32,35,vii. 19,20,26,36,42.

* iK.vii.15-22.

3T iK.xi.7.

M 2K.xxiii.13.

«• iK.xi.5.

«• 2K.xxiii. 13.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL. 297

nomy, in the eighteenth year of his reign. And, that such
high-places were frequented down to the latest days of the
kingdom of Judah, is shown conclusively by the complaint
which the Jewish women, who had escaped into Egypt after
the destruction of Jerusalem, made to the prophet Jeremiah
— ' As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the
name of Jehovah, we will not hearken unto thee. But we
will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own
mouth, to burn incense unto the Queen of Heaven and to
pour out drink-offerings unto her, as we have done, we>
and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of
Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem : for then we had
plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil. But since
we left off to burn-incense to the Queen of Heaven and to
pour out drink-offerings unto her, we have wanted all things,
and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
And when we burned-incense to the Queen of Heaven, and
poured out drink-offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to
worship her and poured out drink-offerings unto her, without
our men ? * 41 — that is, without the cognizance and consent of
our husbands. These ' cakes ' were buns, 42 marked with a
cross or other symbol of Sun worship ; 4 * and from these have
been derived our modern ' hot cross buns/ as the paschal eggs
' figured in the Chaldean rites just as they do now/ 44 and the
worship of the Virgin has been substituted for the worship of
the ' Queen of Heaven.' No doubt, it will surprise many in
our own day — and perhaps offend some — to find that these
and other practices of Christendom have been borrowed from
heathen Sun worship. And so the great prophets of Israel,
who were always striving to raise their people above the
grovelling notions of the tribes around them to higher and
truer ideas of the Deity, very naturally disavowed an idola-

41 Jer.xliv. 16-19. * 2 In man's Ancient Faiths, p.378,&c.

« /£.p.407,&c. " jtf.p.378.

298 THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

trous origin for the worship of Jehovah ; and accordingly
they speak everywhere of the heathen worship, or of Tsrael-
itish worship when practised with heathen rites, as worship of
the Baal 45 or of Molech. 46 But, as we have seen, 47 the very
same practices, which were used by the heathen in Baal-
worship, are denounced in the Bible as habitually used in
Israel, and countenanced and enforced by the examples of
very many of their kings, and the great multitude of their
priests and prophets. The grossest licentiousness was 'ex-
hibited in close connection with the Temple-worship ; 48 foul
symbols, called as/ieras, and mistranslated in our English
Version ' groves,' were set up by the altar of Yahveh ; 49 and
sacrifices of first-born children were offered, down to the time
of Josiah's Reformation. 50 So, when Jeremiah says in one
place, s As the number of thy cities, so are thy gods, O Judah,'
he explains this elsewhere to mean that they had set up
everywhere ' altars to that shame, altars to sacrifice unto the
Baal.' 51 And Ezekiel must have witnessed with his own
eyes such worship going on in the Temple itself, when he
sees in his vision Jewish women 'weeping for Tammuz,' that
is, for the dead Adonis or Lord, the Sun-God, for whom they
wept as killed by a savage boar, but greeted with joy as re-
stored to life on the third day, symbolising thus the passage
of the Sun through the winter solstice, — as also when he sees
men ' at the door of the Temple, between the porch and the
altar, with their backs to the Temple and their faces towards
the East, worshipping the Sun towards the East.' 59

In short, it is plain that in the view of the people generally,
whatever the prophets might say to the contrary, Jehovah
or Yahveh was identified with* the Baal.' Accordingly, not

44 Ju.ii. 1 1, I3,iii. 7,viii.33,x.6, IO, lS.vii.4,xii.io,&c.

** Jcr.xxxii.35, comp. L.xviii.2i,xx.2-5. I7 p. 145-6.

" iK.xiv.24,xv. 12, 2K.xxiii.7, comp. D.xxiii. 18. w 2K.xxi.7,xxiii.4,6,7.

*° P.265-J6. *■ Jer.ii.28,xi.i3. « Ez.viii.14,16.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL. 299

only in the rude time of the Judges a JOASH, though his own
name begins with JEHO or Jo, that is, with JEHOVAH, could
have an ' altar of the Baal/ and call his son Jerubbaal, that is,
' Baal shall contend ' ; 53 but, as we have seen, M in Samuel's
age, when Jehovah was fully recognised as the National
Deity of Israel, and the most strenuous efforts were made to
establish His worship as such, Saul gave to his son the name
"Eshbaa/, 'man of Baal/ y^nathan to his son the name of
Meribaal, ' Baal is contending/ and David to his son the
name ifatf/yadah, 'Baal knows/ instead of calling him El-
yadah or y^vfoiada. And so, on the other hand, Jezebel, the
Tyrian princess, queen of Ahab, whose own name is com-
pounded with Baal, as were those of her father, Ethbaa/, 55 and
of her countrymen, Hannifo/, Asdrubal, Adherbal, who figure
in Roman story, had her sons named AhaziaA 56 and ^ram,* 7
and her daughter Athal/^, 58 all compounded with Jehovah
or Yahveh. This fact shows that there was no essential
difference between the Tyrian Baal, Hercules, whose worship
was introduced by Jezebel among the Israelites M and rooted
out by Jehu, 60 and the Syrian Baal, Yahveh or Yakhveh,
Iacchus or Bacchus, who was worshipped of old in Israel
* under the form of a calf. 61 The former worship was more
stern and severe, the Sun-God being chiefly regarded on the
more gloomy side of his character, being dreaded as having
power to scorch and wither and destroy, and propitiated
therefore with human sacrifices, not merely those of firstborn
infants ; the latter was a more licentious and sensual worship,
in which the Sun-God was hailed as the source of all life. But
the Deity worship was the Sun-God still. And so, when
Elijah slew the ' 450 prophets of the Baal, ' 62 — that is, of the
austere worship newly introduced by Jezebel — he did not slay

M Ju.vi.25,32. * 4 p.79. M 1K.xvi.31. »• 1K.xxii.51, 52.

i7 2K.iii.i,2. *■ 2K.viii. 18,26. »• iK.xvi.31,32. •• 2K.X.18, 28.

§l E.xxxii.4, iK.xii.28, IIos.viii.5,6,x.5,xiii.2. K iK.xviii. 19.22,40.

300 THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

the '400 prophets of the as fur as, who ate at Jezebel's table/ 68
and belonged to the more genial worship of Yahveh. And
in like manner Jehu, when he 'destroyed the Baal out
of Israel/ w destroyed only this foreign form of worship,
but adhered himself to the national form of Baal-worship
which had long been practised in Israel ; for we read,
' Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who
made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, to
wit, the golden calves that were in Bethel and that were in
Dan/ 66

Upon the whole, then, we conclude that the Israelites de-
rived the name Yahveh from contact with the tribes of
Canaan, and that in the view of the people his worship was
identified with that of the Baal, ' the God of the land/ They
may have begun to use it soon after their entrance into
Canaan, especially among the northern tribes ; and hence we
may account for the two or three names of persons belonging
to those tribes, apparently formed with Yahveh, which we
find in the Book of Judges. 66 Under Saul, however, the
national life of Israel began ; and so under Saul Yahveh
appears to have been first distinctly recognised as the natiottal
Deity of Israel. And this took place, no doubt, under the
direct influence of Samuel himself, who did so much to secure
their temporal prosperity, and, as the tradition seems to
imply, was equally zealous to promote their religious welfare,
though the original account of Samuel's doings is very much
coloured by later Deuteronomistic insertions. 67 It need not,
of course, be supposed that Samuel's views of the Divine
character, however elevated above that of his contemporaries,

•* iK.xviii.i9,xxii.6. •* 2K.X.28. •* v.29.

" y«ish, vi. 11, ^ktham, i x -5> Micah (? = Mica/A4), xvii.8: but the first two
names may be otherwise derived, as e.g. Joseph is, and the derivation of the third
is doubtful. N.B. ^niathan, xviii.30, occurs in an interpolated verse.

67 viz. iS.vii.3-i4,viii.6-20,x.8,i8,io,25a,xii. i-25,xiii.8-i5a.

THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL. 301

had advanced to the height on which the Deuteronomist stood
some centuries afterwards. But that such religious zeal was
traditionally ascribed to Samuel is shown by these very in-
sertions, as well as by the fact that he is classed with Moses
by Jeremiah, the Deuteronomist himself, who says ' Though
Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind could not be
towards this people/ 68 For why should Moses and Samuel
have been coupled thus together, unless in the view of Jere-
miah there was some special relation between them ? Does
not this simple fact, in short imply, that in Jeremiah's view
Samuel was a lawgiver in the same sense as Moses — was the
lawgiver, in fact, whose ordinances may very possibly be re-
tained, as we saw in a former Lecture, 69 in that original code
upon which in the Book of Exodus the covenant made between
Yahveh and Israel was based.

So, too, when Jeremiah says, ' Yahveh thy Elohim is a
Devouring Fire/ 70 or Isaiah asks, ' Who among us shall dwell
with the Devouring Fire ? ' 71 this symbol of Fire — like that
of Light, so often used by the greater prophets in speaking of
Yahveh 7a — is probably derived from the original connection
of this name with the worship of the Sun-God. In like
manner the Cross, which in pre-Christian times was used as
the symbol of the Sun, 78 the ' light of this world/ has now
been made the symbol of the spiritual Sun, that ' true Light
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world/ As
regards the outward decoration, the Christian female of the
present day may be but following unconsciously the example
of her sisters of old, in Alexandria and elsewhere. But for
her the Cross has now a deeper meaning, not only as the
symbol of light and life brought near to us in the Gospel of

■■ Jer.xv.i. w p. 1 35. 70 D.iv.24,ix.3.

71 Is.xxxiii.14. n Is.x. 17, Mic.vii.8, Ps.iv.6,xxvii. i,&c.

f> See App. III.

302 THE WORSHIP OF THE BAAL IN ISRAEL.

Christ, but as a reminder of the fact that the Great Light-
bringcr 'suffered even unto death, the death of the Cross/
and of the truth that they who would follow in his steps, the
saviours and benefactors of mankind in all ages, must expect
to share in their measure the lot of their Lord.

LECTURE XXIL

SUMMARY.

The O.S. of the Pentateuch composed in the age of Saul, David, and
Solomon ; its account of primeval times fictitious or mythical ; indications of
the fictitious character of the history of the patriarchal times in Genesis ; the
•Elohistic Narrative contains very scanty details of the personal acts of the
patriarchs, except the account of Abraham's purchasing a burying-place from
the aboriginal inhabitants of the land of Canaan ; the Elohist here lays special
stress on Hebron, the original capital of David's Kingdom, as elsewhere he
does on Bethel, the famous Sanctuary of the older times ; his account of the
origin of the names * Bethel ' and * Israel ' completely at variance with that of
the Jehovist ; it is doubtful if the forefathers of the Israelites of the Exodus
ever really lived in Canaan ; the story of Joseph also unhistorical, and
perhaps fictitious ; the real history of Israel begins with the Exodus ; Hebrew
Literature most probably originated in Samuel's prophetical schools where
the O.S. was composed and was expanded into a complete narrative from the-
Creation to the first years of Solomon ; this came into the hands of Jeremiah
(the Deuteronomist) in Josiah's time, and was by him retouched and amplified,
and extended to the time of the Captivity, and was subsequently enlarged
during and after the Captivity, by the insertion of the priestly legislation ;
the strange legend about Ezra's having rewritten the Books of Moses by
Divine inspiration, which was received generally by the Fathers of the
Church, probably points to his activity in copying and commending the Law
with its latest additions ; what the Scriptures, when their origin is understood,
may lose in miraculous character, they will gain in human interest.

THE HISTORICAL BOOKS FROM GENESIS TO THE
SECOND BOOK OF KINGS.

WILL now sum up briefly the results of my pre-
ceding Lectures with reference to the Composi-
tion of the Pentateuch and the other historical
Books of the Bible before the Captivity. The
oldest portion of the Pentateuch, the Elohistic Narrative,
appears to have been written in the age of Samuel, and, if so,
then most likely by Samuel's own hand. 1 The work was pro-
bably carried on by his disciples during the next age, the age
of David and Solomon ; * and so the Original Story of the
Exodus was completed very much in the form in which it
came into the hands of Jeremiah the Deuteronomist, 3 between
three or four centuries afterwards. How much of that story,
as it now lies before us, may have been derived from tradi-
tionary or legendary matter still floating in the folk-lore of
Israel, and how much may be due to the writer's own imagi-
nation, it is, of course, impossible to say. We observe, how-
ever, that the different writers seem quite as much at home
when narrating matters which occurred before the time of
Abraham, or even before the Flood, as after it. For instance,
they give long lines of patriarchs, with very definite but mani-

1 p.22-24,38. * p. 39,46-51,57-67. ■ p. 148-52.

X

306 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS FROM GENESIS

festly fictitious ages, ranging from 969 years downwards, and
beginning with the first man Adam. 4 An attempt has been
made to reduce these within ordinary limits by supposing that
the ' year ' in these instances means merely a ' month ' ; but
this is set aside at once by observing that the writer mentions
both ' year ' and ' month ' in speaking of Noah's age when
the Flood began — ' in the six hundredth year of Noah's life,
in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month.' 5
As these ages, then, are undoubtedly unhistorical, such lon-
gevity being impossible on scientific grounds for human
beings, 6 we may safely conclude that the conversations re-
ported between the Deity and Adam, Eve, and Cain, and the
words addressed to the serpent and Noah, are also unhistori-
cal — that, in short, the whole history of the antediluvian world,
with the accounts of the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge,
is purely mythical, and that the popular traditionary dogmas
founded upon them must be rejected, in the face of the certain
results of Modern Science, from which we learn that the world
was otherwise formed, that no such Flood ever covered the
earth since the human race began to live upon it, and that
animals of all kinds, and man himself, were in existence long
ages before, according to the Scripture story, the Creation
took place.

But, leaving these portions of Genesis, which, indeed, as
we have seen, 7 contradict each other as well as the facts of
Science, the question then arises as to the credibility of the
later parts of that Book, those which describe the early so-
journings in the land of Canaan of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and the grandeur of Joseph in Egypt, which led to the settle-
ment of the Hebrew people there. There would certainly be
nothing strange in the supposition that real facts may lie at
the foundation of these narratives — that, before the Israelites

4 G.v.xi. 10-26. * G.vii.u, comp. viii.5,13,14.

• Prof. Owen {Eraser's Mag., Feb. 1872). ' p. 36.

TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 307

entered Egypt, their forefathers might have lived for some
time in the land of Canaan, not as masters of the country,
but merely as strangers and sojourners, till at last they re-
moved from Canaan into Egypt at the summons of Joseph,
as the story is told in the Book of Genesis. But then we
have to consider that, if these accounts are really based on
facts, the Israelites must have been long enough in Egypt to
have increased from the ' seventy souls ' who went down with
Jacob, 8 to a mighty nation; 9 and, further, that only those
'seventy souls,' many of them mere children, could have
known anything personally about the land of Canaan, and
that it is incredible that they should have handed down by
word of mouth long accurate details of conversations and
transactions, in which their ancestors took part some centuries
previously. Such things may be imagined, as our great
Scotch novelist has imagined them in stories referring to the
times of Queen Elizabeth and James I. But no one supposes
that such details could have been handed down correctly to
his days, by mere traditionary reminiscences, from Elizabeth's
time.

Moreover, the most ancient writer in Genesis has very little
to say about either of the three patriarchs except Abraham,
though he mentions carefully in each case the names of their
wives and children. He tells us, for instance, that Abraham
begat Ishmael and Isaac, 10 and that from Ishmael, the elder
brother, were descended twelve Arabian tribes, 11 and so that
Isaac begat Esau and Jacob, 12 and from Esau, again the elder
brother, were derived the tribes of Edom, 18 and lastly that
from Jacob sprang the twelve tribes of Israel. 14 But the real
historical meaning of these statements may be this, that the
Hebrews on their way to Canaan found already settled in

• G.xlvi.27. • D.i.io,x.22,xxviii.62. I0 G.xvi.i6,xxi.3.

11 G.xxv. 12-16. ,f tf.24-26. " G xxxvi.

14 G. xxxv. 22-26, xlvi.8-27,E.i. 1-5.
x 2

308 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS FROM GENESIS

those parts these Arabian and Edomite tribes, speaking sub-
stantially the same language with themselves and therefore
manifestly of kindred origin, having migrated in fact from the
same neighbourhood in the far East beyond the Euphrates, 15
like the Moabites and Ammonites, who for a like reason are
referred — though by a shameful birth — to Lot, Abraham's
nephew, as their father, 16 that is, to the same stock as the
Hebrews. Besides these genealogies, however, he records
how El Shaddai, ' Almighty God/ made a Covenant with
Abraham ' to be a God to him and his seed after him/ and
to give to ' him and to his seed after him ' possession of the
land of Canaan, and sealed it with the rite of circumcision, 17
and how He changed his name from * Abram ' to * Abraham '
on this occasion, and his wife's from ' Sarai ' to * Sarah/ and
promised them a son in their old age, 18 and how He after-
wards made a like promise of the land of Canaan to * Jacob
and his seed after him/ and changed his name to ' Israel/
and Jacob called the name of the place where Elohim spoke
with him Beth El, that is, ' House of God.' 19 But the only
transaction recorded by him, in which the patriarch himself
takes a prominent part, is the purchase of a burying-place at
Hebron from the old Hittite inhabitants of the land *° — the
object of which story may have been, as I have said, 21 merely
to give the Israelites, as it were, a seisin in the land, by ancient
purchase of the site of Hebron, David's royal city during the
first years of his reign, 22 which was further made sacred for
Israel by the fact, according to this writer, that Abraham
and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah, all lay
buried there. 23 And Bethel, no doubt, was a very famous
ancient sanctuary, where there stood a sacred stone, set up for
purposes of worship in primitive times beyond all memory

14 p. 281, 291. ,a G.xii.$,xix. 30-38. I7 G.xvii.1-14.

" 7'-5,i5-i9. ,9 G.xxxv.9-15. 70 G.xxiii.

n p.23. n 2S.ii.1i. 2S G.xlix.31,1.13.

TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 309

of man ; and the writer here very naturally ascribes its pre-
eminent sanctity to an act performed of old by Jacob. Here,
however, Jacob sets up a pillar of stones, pours oil upon it,
and calls the place 'Bethel/ and God at the same time
changes his name to ' Israel/ on his return from Padan-Aram,
whither his parents had sent him to procure a wife from
thence, instead of marrying Hittite women as Esau had done. 14
But the later writer ascribes this journey of Jacob to dread
of Esau's anger, and makes him perform the very same acts
— viz. set up a pillar of stone, pour oil upon it, and call the
place ' Bethel/ — on a totally different occasion, twenty years
previously, on his way to Padan-Aram, when he had that
vision of a ladder reaching from. earth to heaven, 'and the
angels of God ascending and descending upon it/ and conse-
crated the stone which he had used for his pillow. 25 And so
the change of Jacob's name took place, according to this
later writer, not at Bethel in the land of Canaan, west of the
Jordan, but some time previously at Peniel, east of the Jordan,
when God, or an Angel, had wrestled with him all night, and
being worsted said, ' Thy name shall be called no more Jacob,
but Israel ; for as a prince hast thou power with God and
men, and hast prevailed/ M The grotesqueness of this story
is a clear proof that we have here only a fanciful attempt to
derive the name ' Israel/ which really means ' El is a prince/
instead of ' one who is a prince with El.' But thus we see
what has probably been done in a multitude of other cases,
where names of persons and places, as the Israelites found them
on taking possession of the land, are ingeniously made the
scenes of events which are supposed to have given rise to the
names in question. About the life of Isaac the Elohist tells
us scarcely anything ; 27 but the active invention and graphic
pen of the later Jehovist has in some measure filled up the

74 G.xxvii.46,xxviii. i-5,xxxv.9-i5. " G.xxvii.4i-45,xxviii. 10- 19.

24 G.xxxii. 24-30. 2T G.xxi. 2-5, xxv. 1 9, 20, 24-26, xxxv. 2 7-29.

310 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS FROM GENESIS

blank with the spirited story of Jacob obtaining by craft his
brother's blessing, 28 and with some other incidents, 29 as he has
also enlivened the older accounts of Abraham and Jacob with
several episodes. But the very fact that he has introduced
these incidents, unknown apparently to the more ancient
writer, — still more, the fact that four centuries later still the
Deuteronomist could insert in Genesis the account of a solemn
vision in which Jehovah pledges himself once more to give
the land of Canaan to Abraham 80 — is enough to show how
much the imaginative faculty has been concerned in the coin-
position of these narratives.

Upon the whole, it is very possible that these forefathers
were never in the land of Canaan at all — that, in point of
fact, they never really existed as individual men, but corre-
spond to the mythical founders of other nations, whose histories
are for the most part composed of fabulous narratives, which,
so far as they are based at all on historical truth, shadow forth
the doings of tribes and generations, instead of persons.
Even the account of Joseph's being carried down as a slave
to Egypt, and there rising to be Pharaoh's grand vizier, which
led to his father and family settling in Egypt, 31 is in some of
its . statements so incredible that it is difficult to believe that
we have here, any more than elsewhere in Genesis, veracious
history. Thus the very basis of the whole story, the state-
ment that, when there were seven successive years of dearth
in Egypt, which in that land could only have arisen from de-
ficient inundations of the Nile, there was also ' sore famine/
year after year, ' in all lands/ 32 which would have arisen from
totally different causes, throws at once a grave doubt upon
the historical character of the narrative. This detailed narra-
tive, in fact, may be merely a work of imagination like the*
rest, which has been substituted for some brief notice which

w G.xxvii.i 45. 29 G.xxv. 27-34, xxvi. »• G.xv.

31 G.xlv.4-13. n G.xli.54,57.

TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 311

the older writer had given of the way in which the Israelites
came into Egypt, apparently on the summons of Joseph, since
he speaks of him as already settled there, 33 and names him
alone as of most importance when he writes — ' And Joseph
died and all his brethren and all that generation.' 34 Tradi-
tion said, and said truly, it would seem, as we have inferred
from comparing the Egyptian records, 35 that the Hebrews
had at one time been slaves in Egypt But how they first
arrived there was unknown ; the tradition of that event had
been lost in the course of time ; as the Zulus have no recol-
lection of the past beyond a few generations, and can tell us
nothing of the cause — whether the pressure of other tribes
behind them or the desire to find more ample grazing-grounds
— which brought them down to these S.E. parts of Africa.
Accordingly, the story of Joseph's doings may have been
merely invented to account for the presence of the Hebrews
in former time in Egypt, and to show that all the cruel treat-
ment, which they had received at the hands of the Egyptians,
was a most ungrateful return for the services rendered to
the Pharaoh and people of other days by one of Hebrew
blood. And very probably the writer of this section was
one of the tribe of Joseph, an Ephraimite among the dis-
ciples of Samuel, who took thus an opportunity of lauding
his own ancestor, or rather, of reflecting glory on the popu-
lous tribe of Ephraim, the powerful leader of the northern
tribes.

However this may be, the real history of the Hebrews
begins with the Exodus, and that of the Hebrew nation with
the times of Saul and Samuel ; and in that age also, as we
have seen, 36 the idea of writing some popular account of the
Exodus out of Egypt most probably originated and was
carried into effect in the schools of the prophets, where also,

M G.xlvi.20a,27, E.i-5b. * E.i.6. u p. 279-282. ■• p. 21.

312 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS FROM GENESIS

no doubt, other literary works were composed, such as the
' Book of Jashar/ 87 that is, the ' Book of the Righteous
One,' viz. of the righteous people, Jeshurun 38 or Israel, and
the ' Book of the Wars of Jehovah,' * 9 that is, of the wars of
Israel, whose cause was identified with that of its National
Deity, His people being supposed to fight His battles with
His strong co-operation as a 'Man of War' 40 — both which
books are now lost. To the same circle of writers may be
ascribed the most ancient portions of the Books of Judges and
Ruth, and of the two Books of Samuel — in fact, the whole
history in its original form, as it came into the hands of the
Deuteronomist, from G.i to 2S.xxiv, and even to 1K.ix.25,
after which we find no further trace of it. This work, which
now formed a continuous historical narrative from the
Creation downwards to the time of Solomon, perhaps lay
deposited in the Temple, or in the charge of the chief-priest,
till the days of Jeremiah, who retouched and enlarged it
throughout, 41 and especially wrote the main address of Moses
in Deuteronomy, the ' finding ' of which in the Temple gave
rise to Josiah's Reformation. 42 To this he afterwards pre-
fixed four introductory and appended two concluding chap-
ters, 43 and he wrote also, as is generally agreed, 44 the rest of
the Books of Kings from the time of Solomon downwards,
for which he most probably had at his disposal some older,
perhaps official, records out of the different reigns. Ac-
cordingly the hand of one and the same writer can be dis-
tinctly traced, not only throughout almost the whole of
Deuteronomy, but in passages of Genesis, Exodus, Joshua,
Judges, the two Books of Samuel, and the first nine chapters
of Kings, as well as throughout the rest of the Books of
Kings and the prophecies of Jeremiah. In other words, it is

" J.x. 13, 2S.i.i8. M D.xxxii.i5,xxxiii.5,26. " N.xxi. 14.

40 E.xv.3,6, Ts.xxiv.8. 41 p. 150. « p. 152.

48 p. 158. 4t Bishop Lord Hervey (A^.II.p.28).

TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 313

plain that Jeremiah has either written or retouched and edited
the whole of the history from G.i to 2K.xxv, which accordingly
exhibits very clearly, wherever his hand has been at work, the
stamp of his prophetical character.

Finally, during the first years of Jehoiachin's Captivity,
Ezekiel followed Jeremiah's example, by writing L.xviii-xx and
especially L.xxvi. 48 And his work was taken up during the
Captivity and after it, by a series of priestly writers who have
composed nearly half of the present Pentateuch, and made a
few insertions, here and there, in the rest of the history as left
by Jeremiah, 46 but who, in doing this, departed widely from
the tone and spirit of the old prophetical writers, representing
Jehovah as taking a special interest in a multitude of minute
ritualistic observances, and ascribing to Divine authority a
series of most stringent ordinances for maintaining the pre-
rogatives of the priests and Levites, which whosoever should
transgress ' shall surely die/ 47 Very probably, Ezra, about a
century after the Captivity, had a large share in this work,
which seems to have been brought very nearly to a close in
his days, about B.C. 450, as far as the Hebrew Text is con-
cerned, though it may have received some additions even after
that time ; for the numerous alterations in the Samaritan
Text imply that the work of revision and correction was still
going on more than a century afterwards, while the Septuagint
Version shows plainly that the Greek Translators must have
had before them copies of the Hebrew Scriptures differing in
many respects materially from our own.

That something, however, was really done by Ezra, at least
in editing and publishing the Law, seems to be implied by the
Jewish tradition, which was adopted generally by the early
Fathers, based probably upon the story told in the apocryphal

43 p. 192.

«• e.g. Ju.xviii.30,xx.27b,28a, lK.iii.i6-28,iv.24-34,v.i5-i8,vi. 1,1 1-14, viii.4,
5,io,n,63,64,xii.4-i6. w N.i.5i,iii.io,38,xvi.40,xviii.22.

3H THE HISTORICAL BOOKS FROM GENESIS

Second Book of Esdras. Here Ezra says, ' Thy Law is
burnt ; therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of
Thee or the works that shall begin. But, if I have found
grace before Thee, send the Holy Ghost into me, that I may
write all that has been done in the world since the beginning,
which was written in Thy Law, so that they which live in the
latter days may live.' And Ezra says that his prayer was
heard, and he was told to retire into a private place with five
men ' ready to write swiftly/ and with ' many box-wood
tables to write upon/ ' So I took the five men as He bade
me, and we went into the field and stayed there. And the
next day lo ! a voice called me saying, Ezra, open thy mouth,
and drink that which I give thee to drink. Then I opened
my mouth, and lo ! he reached me a full cup, which was
filled, as it were, with water, but the colour of it was like fire.
And I took it and drank ; and, when I had drunk of it, my
heart uttered understanding, and wisdom grew in my breast ;
for rtiy spirit strengthened my memory, and my mouth was
opened and shut no more. The Highest gave understanding
unto the five men, and they wrote the wonderful visions of
the night that were told, which they knew not ; and they sat
forty days, and they wrote in the day and at night they ate
bread/ 48

Accordingly, JEROME 49 says, 'Whether you choose to say
that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch or Ezra the
restorer of that work, I have no objection ' ; while earlier
Fathers speak more positively, as AUGUSTINE, 50 ' Ezra re-
stored the Law, which had been burnt by the Chaldaeans in
the Temple archives, he being full of the same Spirit which
had been in the Scriptures/ and CLEMENT 51 of Alexandria,
' When the Scriptures had been destroyed in the Captivity of
Nebuchadnezzar, Ezra the Levite the priest, in the time of

« 2Esdr.xiv.2i-42. • Ad. Heb. III.

ao De mir. ^*. -S. ii. 33. *' Strom. I.xxii.49.

TO THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS. 315

Artaxerxes king of the Persians, having become inspired,
reproduced prophetically all the ancient Scriptures/ and
Tertullian, 53 'When Jerusalem was destroyed by the
Babylonian storming, it is well known that every article of
Jewish Literature was restored by Ezra/ and IreNjEUS,**
1 Then, in the times of Artaxerxes king of the Persians, He
inspired Ezra the priest of the tribe of Levi, to set in order
again all the words of the former prophets, and restore for
the people the Legislation of Moses/ So remarkable a story
can hardly have originated without some strong tradition
having pointed to Ezra having had a large share in writing
the later portions of the priestly Law, or else to his having
compiled that Law and exerted himself energetically in
making it known to his contemporaries.

I have thus endeavoured to set before you as plainly as I
can the main results of Modern Biblical Criticism as regards
the composition of the Pentateuch. Doubtless, as the conse-
quence of these conclusions, the popular ideas as to the nature
of the Divine action among the Jews will have to be materially
modified. The whole will become thoroughly humanised.
The preternatural Divine influence will withdraw from the
prominent place, which it occupies in the narrative as we
read it, to that invisible action, which is familiarised to us by
our own experience. But what the Scriptures may lose in
revealing power, they will gain in human interest The sacred
history does indeed change its aspect under the influence of
criticism. But it does not therefore cease to be a history,
though a history whose importance is to be estimated rather
by the ideas of which it records the rise and development,
and the consequences that have flowed from them, than by
any phenomena accompanying their introduction. Not the
less does this history remain the preparatory stage for the

» Dthab. mid. III. " adv. har. IIl.xxi.2.

316 THE HISTORICAL BOOKS— GENESIS TO II.KINGS.

coming of that Divine Light which has ' lighted the Gentiles '
ever since, at least over the whole Western World, and will
yet be, as we trust, ' the glory of God's people Israel/ For,
if their ' casting away/ as St. Paul says, became ' the recon-
ciling of the world ' M — if their blind attachment to the Law of
Moses, which was in truth the work of their fathers when
Moses had been in his grave for centuries, has hitherto kept
them back as a body from the full enjoyment of that light,
and of that liberty wherewith Christ has made us free as
children of God, — may we not hope and believe that there is
a development yet in store for them as well as for us, perhaps
through the influence of that critical research, which seems to
be crushing into powder the ' letter/ at once their trust and
their chain, — that the time is coming when the more thorough
union of Semitic faith with Aryan thought will be to the
Church of the Living God as ' life from the dead ' ? 55

M Rora.xi.15. ** See Spectator, May 4, 1872, p. 571.

F2^

LECTURE XXIII.

SUMMARY.

The Church Fathers uncritical and credulous in adopting the fabulous st<ry
about Ezra ; the apocryphal books of the O.T. regarded by the mass of
Christendom as canonical, and in the Homilies of the Church of England as
* the infallible Word of God * ; the pretended commission of Artaxerxes,
giving plenary powers to Ezra, altogether fictitious ; this appears also from
the disorders existing when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem ; the Edict of
Cyrus, allowing the Jews to return, quoted in part in Chronicles, is also
fictitious ; the whole of Ezra and half of Nehemiah due to the Chronicler ;
the letter to Artaxerxes and the royal rescript in Ezr.iv are authentic; these
documents evidently refer to the building of the walls of Jerusalem, but are
here erroneously transferred to the building of the Temple fifty years pre-
viously, which the writer represents as hindered by the enemies of Judah, in
defiance of the facts of history, as shown by the prophet Haggai ; this fiction
he tries to support by a letter supposed to have been addressed to Darius,
and the king's supposed reply, quoting a decree of Cyrus supposed to have
been found in the royal archives — all which is a pure fiction ; no dependence
can be placed on the Chronicler's statements in these Books ; nothing is
certainly known about Ezra, whom Nehemiah does not even mention, though
a priest of that name may have been zealously concerned in copying and
introducing, and perhaps in part composing, the Levitical Law.

7HE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.

JN my last Lecture I spoke of Ezra as having pro-
bably had a considerable share in composing the
priestly portions of the Pentateuch ; and I quoted
a passage from the Second Book of Esdras as-
serting that Ezra had actually had the whole Law revealed
to him afresh, when it had been destroyed and lost in the
Babylonish Captivity, as also the statements of JEROME,
Augustine, Clement, Tertullian, Iren^eus, all to the
same or similar purport. If, indeed, the authority of the
Fathers of the Church is worth anything in such matters as
these, it is difficult to see how a tradition so clear and so
unanimously affirmed by so many of the most ancient, eminent,
and learned of them, can be lightly rejected. Yet, I suppose,
not the most zealous defender of traditionary views will now
venture to maintain the historical veracity of these statements;
though the Roman Church regards all the apocryphal books
of the O.T., and the Greek Church regards most of them, as
being equally Divine and infallible with the other Scriptures,
a belief which prevailed also in the Church of England at the
time when the Book of Homilies was written, in which we
read, ' Almighty God by the Wise Man saith,' ! referring to

1 Homilits (Corrie's Ed.), p. 73-

320 THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.

the Book of Wisdom, and passages out of the Apocrypha are
quoted as 'places of Scripture* in which 'the Holy Ghost
doth teach/ 2 as ' the Word of God,' 3 ' the infallible and unde-
ceivable Word of God.' 4 The Fathers in question have evi-
dently copied from one another or from the story in the Book
of Esdras (A.D. ioo) ; and their statements serve only to show
how unreasoning and credulous were these good men, and
how little dependence therefore can be placed on their
critical judgment in respect of any of the Canonical Books,
either of the Old Testament or of the New.

But who was Ezra ? The question might be easily
answered, if we could trust to the data of the ' Book of Ezra,'
which stands in our Bibles between the Books of Chronicles
and the Book of Nehemiah. For this book tells us that Ezra
was a ' priest the son of Aaron,' 6 and also ' a ready scribe in
the Law of Moses,' 6 who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem
at his own request in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, having
1 prepared his heart to seek the Law of Jehovah and to do
it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.' 7 It states
further that the king issued to him a formal commission,
permitting any that pleased to go to Jerusalem with him, of
the people, the priests, and the Levites, and authorising him
to ' enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to
the Law of his God which was in his hand,' and with * the
silver and gold which the king and his counsellors had freely
offered unto the God of Israel whose dwelling was in Jerusa-
lem,' in addition to the freewill offerings of his own people,
to buy sacrifices for the Temple, together with their proper
4 meal-offerings and drink-offerings,' and to spend the rest as
he thought proper ; and ' whatsoever more shall be needed
for the House of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to
bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasury. And I, even I,

2 Homilies (Corrie's Ed.), p. 391. ■ lb. p.246,247. * lb. p. 106.

* Ezr.vii. 1-5. • v. 6. ' ?>.6-lo.

THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 321

Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers
which are across the River, that whatsoever Ezra the priest,
the scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, shall require of
you, it be done speedily. . . . Whatsoever is commanded by
the God of Heaven, let it be diligently done for the House of
the God of Heaven ; for why should there be wrath against
the realm of the king and his sons ? Also we certify you that
touching any of the priests and the Levites, choristers, gate-
keepers, Nethinim, or servants of the House of God, it shall
not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them.
And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine
hand, set magistrates and judges, who may judge all the
people that are across the River, all such as know the laws of
thy God, and teach ye them that know them not. And who-
soever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king,
let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be
unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to
imprisonment ,8

Let us now consider a little the contents of this extraordi-
nary commission, which, in the form of a letter to Ezra,
invests this Jewish priest with plenary power over the lives
and liberties and properties of all the king's subjects, not in
Judah only, but in all the district 'across the River/ that is,
in all the regions west of the Great River Euphrates, denouncing
the most terrible penalties, not only against any who ' will
not do the law of the king/ but also against all who c will not
do the law of Ezra's God.' 9 Very many of those to whom
such a decree would have applied would most probably have
been of the same religion as the king himself, and many also
would have been Samaritans, who are represented in this
book as living in bitter hostility to the Jews. 10 Can it be
believed that Artaxerxes would have subjected all these to

• Ezr.vii.n-26. • v. 26. '• Ezr.iv.i-j6,23,24,v.6-i7.

Y

322 THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.

the penalty of death, if they disobeyed the ' Law of JEHOVAH '
as taught by Ezra ? Of the Law, probably, most of these
people knew little or nothing. But they are here, it seems,
to be converted to the Jewish religion — 'teach ye them that
know not the laws of thy God/ 11 — in true Mahommedan
fashion, with the threat of imprisonment, confiscation, banish-
ment, or death, if they did not receive it ! I2 Is this an edict
of Artaxerxes or a mere dream of a later age ? Moreover,
Ezra is to appoint ' magistrates and judges, who shall judge
all the people across the River, such as know already the laws
of his God,' 13 and, of course, all the others when converted.
Was, then, the priest Ezra to supersede the satraps and
governors already ruling ' across the River/ by virtue of this
letter addressed to himself? Yet the 'treasurers' across the
River were, it seems, to remain in office, and to supply Ezra's
demands for the Temple to any extent! 14 Lastly, the king
writes familiarly about 'the priests and the Levites/ 15 ' Judah
and Jerusalem/ 16 ' the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in
Jerusalem/ 17 'meat-offerings and drink-offerings/ 18 and he
exempts from payment of 'toll, tribute, or custom* the 'priests
and Levites, choristers, gate-keepers, and Nethinim or menials
of the Temple/ 19 writing just as if he had by heart the whole
string of phrases of the Later Legislation ; he enjoins that
the 'bullocks, rams, and lambs/ required for the Levitical
Sacrifices, shall be promptly purchased ; *° and he refers again
and again to 'the Law/ 21 just as any well-trained Jew might
have done. In short, it is clear that this 'letter* of Artaxerxes
is a pure fiction, written with the view of magnifying the
position and authority of ' Ezra the priest/ the renewer of the
Law of Moses. But that Ezra had no such powers really
committed to him is evident from the fact that Nehemiah, on

11 Ezr.vii.25.

" z>.26.

18 V.25. !l If.2I.-23.

15 ». 13.14.

18 tf.14.

17 v.15. " v.17.

19 Ezr.vii.24.

,0 v. 1 7.

11 ^.12,14,21,25,26.

THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 323

his arrival in Jerusalem twelve years afterwards, found the
practice of usury existing among the Jews with gross oppres-
sion of their brethren, 23 in direct defiance of the Levitical
Law,* 3 which Ezra, with the ' Law of his God ' in his heart,
and with these summary powers in his hand, must be supposed
during all this time to have overlooked or permitted.

This Book also professes to quote the very words of the
Edict of Cyrus which allowed the Jews to return to their own
land. 34 But, after the example which we have just had of the
writer's practice of using his imagination freely in writing
history, wc shall have no difficulty in concluding that this
Edict of Cyrus is just as fictitious as the Edict of Artaxerxes.
It makes, for instance, the Persian king speak of JEHOVAH by
name not only as ' the God of Israel/ but as the ' God of
Heaven/ and say 'Jehovah He is the God/ 'Jehovah He
hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth/ 25 as if he had
actually himself adopted the faith of the Jews. It is plain
that the writer has merely given in his own words the sub-
stance of some such a decree as he supposes Cyrus to have
issued on this occasion. But a portion of this decree is also
given at the end of the Second Book of Chronicles ; and a
close examination of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah shows
that almost all of the Book of Ezra and half of the Book of
Nehemiah are the work of the Chronicler himself, 26 who wrote
between one and two hundred years after the events which he
here describes, or later still, and gives a thoroughly untrust-
worthy account of those events, inserting fictitious decrees, 27
letters, 28 prayers, 29 and speeches, 30 and colouring everything
from a Levitical point of view. 31

n Neh.v.1-13. ** L.xxv. 35-37. u Ezr.i.2-4. ** v.2,3.

M See Part VII of my work on the Pentateuch for proof of this.
'" Ezr.i.2-4, vi. 3-5,6-12. M Ezr.v.7-i7,vii.i2-26.

*» E2r.ix.6-15, Neh.ix.5-38. *• Ezr.ix. 1, 2, x. 2-4,10-14.

81 Ezr.i.5,iL 36-60,61-63, 70, iii. 2-6,8-13, vi. 16-20, vii. 1-7, viii.2, 15-20,24-30,
33-35. Neh.vii. 39-62,63-65, 73, vui.x.28-39,xi,xii,xiu.5b,9a, 10- I3,22a,29-3ia.

Y 2

324 THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.

In one place, however, he really does quote what appears
to be a genuine rescript of Artaxerxes, in reply to a repre-
sentation made to him that the Jews were fortifying their
city. 33 ' Be it known unto the king that the Jews which came
up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building [*>.
fortifying] that rebellious and bad city, and have set up its
walls and joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the
king that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again,
then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou
shalt endanger the revenue of the kings/ And the king
replies, ' Make a decree to cause these men to cease, and that
this city be not builded, until commandment shall be given
from me.' 33 No allusion is here made to the building of the
Temple being stopped ; nor was it likely that their conquerors
should trouble themselves to interfere with that work. More-
over, Artaxerxes began to reign (B.C. 465) about seventy-
years after the return of the Jews from the Captivity (B.c. 536),
and fifty years after the Tetnple was actually finished in the
time of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah 34 (B.C. 515).
Yet here the writer represents the ' adversaries of Judah and
Benjamin ' as conspiring to hinder the building of the Temple,
and as succeeding in doing so by means of this very rescript
of Artaxerxes, 35 written fifty years after the Temple was
completed in the sixth year of Darius, 36 whom he actually
supposes to have reigned after Artaxerxes, 37 instead of half a
century before him ! The prophet Haggai, however, says
not a word about any such opposition on the part of the Jews'
enemies to the building of the Temple, but ascribes the
delay which had occurred wholly to the negligence, indifference,
and luxury of the Jews themselves. ' This people says, The
time is not come, the time when Jehovah's House should be
built ... Is it a time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled

w Ezr.iv.n-i6. ' M v.17-22. u Hag. ii. 6-9, Zech.vii.1-3.

** Ezr.iv. 1-6,23,24. M Ezr.vi.15. n Ezr.iv.23,24.

THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 325

houses, and this House lying waste? ... Ye looked for
much, but lo ! it came to little ; and, when ye brought it
home, I did blow upon it. Why ? said JEHOVAH of Hosts.
Because of Mine House that is waste, and ye run every man
to his own house.' S8 The Chronicler must have had this
prophecy before him when he wrote. But he was unwilling
to allow that any delay — much more a delay of twenty
years — had been caused by the lazy self-indulgence of the
Jews themselves, and even while Zerubbabel and Joshua the
chief-priest, who had led them from Babylon to Jerusalem,
were still living. 89 So in the very teeth of Haggai's reproach
he invents a series of vexatious hindrances from the enemies
of Judah, suggested very probably by the opposition which
was really made, more than half a century afterwards, in the
days of Nehemiah, to the building of the wal/. i0 For this
purpose he uses these genuine letters to and from the king,
which, however, speak only of ' the Jews who had come up
from Artaxerxes' setting to work to * build the rebellious
and bad city, having completed the walls and joined the
foundations/ 41 perhaps referring to Ezra and his party, who
may have made some attempt, before Nehemiah's arrival, to
fortify Jerusalem,- so far as to ' complete ' the walls, that is,
lay the foundations all round — letters which he had obtained
from some quarter or other, but of which he apparently wholly
mistook the meaning.

Once more, in support of this fiction he has introduced
another letter, purporting to have been sent to Darius the
king by the Governor of the province to which Judaea
belonged, acting in concert with certain Samaritans, 42 in which
he reports the progress made in the building of the Temple,
and states that the Jews appealed in support of their pro-
ceedings to a decree of Cyrus, which expressly ordered that

* Hag. i. 2-4, 9. n v.i , comp. Ezr. iii. 2. 40 Neh. L 3, ii. 8, 1 3- 1 5, 1 7-20, iii, iv.
41 E2r.iv.12. ** Ezr. v. 3-1 7, comp. iv.9,10.

326 THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.

stones and timber should be supplied for the building and the
expenses paid out of the revenues of the province, and sug-
gests that this decree would probably be found in the king's
treasury. Accordingly Darius, we are told, ordered a search
to be made for the record in question, which was duly found, 43
and thereupon, in the second year of his reign, he issued a
decree, which the writer here professes to quote at length,
authorizing the completion of the Temple. 44

But this letter and decree are evidently fictitious like the
others ; though, in imitation of the genuine letters to and from
Artaxerxes, they are written in the Chaldee dialect, which
differs from Hebrew much in the same sort of way that broad
Scotch-English differs from common English. Would the
Governor of the province have been ignorant that such a
decree had been issued some sixteen years previously ? Or,
if he was, were there no royal counsellors alive who would
have been aware of so notorious a fact which had so recently
occurred, and would know that a large body of Jews had re-
turned to Jerusalem in consequence, with free permission to
rebuild their Temple ? Was it necessary for the Governor to
ask the king to have a search made for it among the archives
of the Empire, as if it were some venerable charter issued in
days of old beyond the memory of statesmen then living,
when Zerubbabel had only to exhibit to all gainsayers the 30
golden chargers and 1,000 silver chargers or the ' 5,400 vessels
of gold and silver ' altogether, 46 which, we are told, Cyrus re-
stored to him out of the spoils of the First Temple, as the
best possible proof of his having sanctioned their undertaking?
Or had Zerubbabel himself no copy of that decree, and during
all this time had he never once appealed to it, to obtain from
the Governor the help which he needed ? How strange, too,
that Haggai, who prophesied in this very same second year

w Ezr.vi.1-5. " *.6-i2. « Ezr.i.9-11.

THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 327

of Darius, 46 makes no allusion whatever to the cheering cir-
cumstances under which the work would now go forward !
Or, if we turn to the decree itself, as here quoted, can it be
thought that Cyrus would have actually defined the very mode
in which the Temple should be built, 'with three rows of great
stones and a row of new timber/ 47 and have specified its exact
dimensions, ' 60 cubits high and 60 cubits broad/ 48 that is,
twice as high and thrice as wide as the Temple of Solomon ! 49
Nothing is said about the length of it ; but, supposing this to
have been omitted by some careless copyist, and to have been
in proportion to the height and breadth, would there then
have been any ground for Haggai's saying, 'Who is left
among you that saw this House in its former glory ? and how
do ye see it now ? Is it not in your eyes as nothing in com-
parison of it ? ' w Or, again, is it credible that Darius would
utter a prayer in this decree that ' the God who had caused
His Name to dwell there ' — where we recognise a well-known
phrase of Deuteronomy 6l — 'would destroy all kings and
peoples who should put their hand to alter and to destroy this
House of God which is at Jerusalem ?' M

From all this it is plain that no dependence can be placed
on any statements pf the Chronicler contained in these Books,
unless they are supported by other evidence — for instance, as
to the details of the return from the Captivity, 8 * the numbers
and names of those who returned, 64 the building of the Temple
and the ceremonies observed at its founding and dedication, 6 *
or the account of Ezra's journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, 66
eighty years after the return of Zerubbabel, with splendid
presents for the Temple from ' the king and his counsellors
and his lords and all Israel/ 67 and his proceedings on his

«• Hag.i.i.

*' Ezr.vi.4.

«• v. 3.

• iK.vi.2.

» Hag.ii.3.

41 D.xii.ii,xiv.23,xvi.2,6,ii,xxvi.2.

*» Ezr.vi.i2.

*» Kzr.i.

M Ezr.ii.

** Ezr.iii.

*• Ezr.vii.6-9,viii.

*' Ezr.vii. 15, 16,^.24-30,33,34.

328 THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH

arrival at Jerusalem, his mourning for the sin of those who
had married heathen women, 58 his prayer and confession and
exhortation, 59 and the effect which these had upon the
people, 60 so that more than a hundred mentioned by name,
who ' had taken strange wives, by some of whom they had
children/ ' gave their hands that they would put away their
wives, and being guilty offered a lamb of the flock for their
trespass/ The whole of this rests on the Chronicler's testi-
mony, and, from what we now know of his character as a
historian, not a statement of his can be regarded as worthy
of credence, unless it seems probable in itself or derives
support from other independent sources. The very lists of
names, which seem at first sight to guarantee the accuracy of
his information and the truthfulness of his narrative, are found
on examination to betray frequently the same unhistorical
character which everywhere pervades the writings due to his
hand. 61

The first six chapters, however, of the Book of Nehemiah,
the first few verses of the seventh, and most of the last
chapter, 62 appear to be genuine extracts from some memoir of
Nehemiah's doings written by his own hand, which, together
with the genuine letter of Artaxerxes and the king's reply, 63
perhaps preserved also by Nehemiah, had come into the
Chronicler's possession. But he has filled up the rest of this
Book, as well as the whole Book of Ezra, with fictions com-
posed in his own peculiar style, specially dignifying the
priests and Levites. He tells us, for instance, how Ezra read
the Book of the Law in the ears of the people ' on the first
day of the month/ M and how they kept a solemn feast that
day, 65 and the next day found 'written in the Law 1 the
proper mode of keeping the Feast of Tabernacles, 66 which

*" Ezr.ix.1-4 *• Ezr/ix.5-i5,x.i-n. * Ezr.x. 12-44.

« See part VII for full proof of this.

n Nch.vii. ia,2-5a,xiii.4-5a,6-8,9b,i4-2i,22b-28,3lb. •* Ezr.iv.7 22.

•* Neh.viii.1-8 •» v.9-12. •• ?. 13-18.

THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. 329

they accordingly observed duly for the first time in the his-
tory of Israel 'since the days of Joshua the son of Nun unto
that day.' 67 After this he informs us how the Levites in a
long supplication confessed God's Goodness and the people's
sin, 68 and thereupon the people sealed a covenant that hence-
forth they would keep faithfully the Law of Moses, 69 and
especially that they would maintain the sacrificial system as
prescribed in the Later Legislation, and pay scrupulously the
dues of the priests and Levites. 70 And then he gives long
lists of names of priests and Levites, 71 which have probably
no historical value whatever, except perhaps that of indicating
the principal families existing in the writer's own time ; and
he goes on to describe, as if from the pen of Nehemiah, 7 * the
dedication of the walls, 78 along which two troops of choristers
marched, setting out from one spot in opposite directions,
Ezra heading his company of Levites, but Nehemiah fol-
lowing in the rear of his choir. 74 After all these accounts,
however, of the activity and prominence of Ezra in the days
of Nehemiah, it is somewhat remarkable that Nehemiah
himself in his genuine memoirs does not even once mention
his name. Still, as I have said, 75 the Jewish tradition seems
to imply that there must have been some priest, named
Ezra, after the Captivity, who took an active part in editing
and publishing the Law of Moses, now increased with the
Levitical Legislation, partly written by other priests in
Babylonia, and partly perhaps by his own . hand. More
than this cannot be said with any confidence about Ezra's
doings.

No doubt, it must at first sight seem somewhat extravagant
to suppose that any nation would accept a vast system of
minute legislative enactments as the regulations which had

.•' Nch.viii.17. •» Neh.ix.4-38. • Neh.x.1-31.

79 v. 32-39. 7I Neh.xi. 10-23, xii. 1-26. n v.31, 38,40.

'• Neh. xii. 27-43. 7i z/-36,38. '• p.313.

33© THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH.

been observed by their ancestors for ages, when in fact the
details were mostly of modern introduction. Yet, as we have
seen, it is the Jewish tradition that something very like this
did actually take place after the return from the Babylonish
Captivity, so that Ezra, in fact, appears in the Talmud as the
very counterpart of Moses. What can have given rise to such
a tradition but the knowledge of the fact that before this time
the ' Law of Moses/ as we now possess it, was really unknown,
that there were no copies which could be traced further back
than that period, when, as all had to be organised anew
among those who had grown up for two generations in a
strange land, an opportunity occurred for introducing new
rules under the garb of antiquity, such as has hardly occurred
in the history of any other nation ? 76 Among the returning
exiles, if we can trust the statements in these Books, there
was, as I have said, 77 one priest for ten laymen, and these last,
most probably, more or less under priestly influence. As the
result of this enormous preponderance of the priestly element,
the reviving nation was easily taught to guard itself against
unfaithfulness to its God in future by putting on the heavy
clothing of a vast system of ecclesiastical observances, per-
vading the whole fabric of their lives. From this, thank God !
the teaching of Christ has set us free. Nor will we now suffer
ourselves and our children to be entangled again under the
yoke of bondage, and make the due performance of rites and
ceremonies, or the profession of an orthodox creed, of more
consequence than that Divine Charity in which the life of the
soul consists, and those fruits of the Spirit, ' love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tempe-
rance, against which there is no Law.' 78

Ti Spectator, May 4, 1872, p.570. " p.257. 7i Gal. v. 22, 23.

LECTURE XXIV.

SUMMARY.

The Books of Chronicles fallacious and misleading ; they have been the
chief stay of the popular notion as to the Mosaic origin of the priestly
legislation of the Pentateuch ; in the older Lectionary no portion of these
Books was ordered to be read, though much from the Apocrypha ; Amos,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, show plainly that this Legislation did not in their
time exist in the story of the Exodus ; meaning of the phrase • Law of
Jehovah,' as used by these prophets ; they refer to incidents of the O.S.,
but nowhere to the L.L.; even the later prophets speak of the priests as
• sons of Levi,' never as ' sons of Aaron ' ; the latter phrase is used habitually
by the Chronicler, who also distinguishes the priests and the Levites, as in
the L.L.; instances of his modifying the older history about the reign of
David, to glorify the priests and Levites ; special reason for his fiction about
the Mosaic Tabernacle and Brazen Altar having been set up at Gibeon ; he
has left out whatever might be a reproach to David and Solomon, and has
altered, in copying, the statements of Samuel and Kings, so as to represent
the L.L. as in full force all along ; his fictitious account of David's numbering
the Levites, of his dividing the priests and choristers into courses and
appointing the Levites to important offices, of his gifts to the Temple and his
prayer of thanksgiving ; the Chronicler's fictions in the history of the subse-
quent kings from Solomon downwards ; he was probably a Levite chorister,
writing long after the Captivity ; some few of his notices, not found in
Samuel and Kings, may have historical value, but as a whole his original
statements are utterly untrustworthy ; the grave nature of the Chronicler's
conduct in deliberately falsifying the facts of history as known to himself; he
has only followed the example of the priestly writers of the Pentateuch.

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

fITHERTO I have made no use in these Lectures
of the two Books of Chronicles, that is to say, I
have never once appealed to them in support of
my statements. The reason of this is obvious after
what we have seen in the last Lecture of the Chronicler's mode
of writing history in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. For in
these Books he has not hesitated to insert letters and decrees
which are thoroughly fictitious ; and, generally, his accounts,
when unsupported by other evidence, are worthless as history.
The two Books of Chronicles exhibit the same fallacious
and misleading character. They go over the same ground
as that traversed by the Books of Samuel and Kings,
though the writer confines himself chiefly to matters
affecting the kingdom of Judah ; and he not only had
those older Books before him when he wrote, but he has
very frequently copied their language word for word.
And yet he has continually altered their statements or made
his own additions to them, and usually in such a way as to
magnify the office of the priests and Levites, and to repre-
sent the Levitical Law as in full force from the first, and
the priestly ordinances as punctually obeyed.

This is a matter of grave importance, because it is really

334 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

the Chronicler who by these perversions- of the fact has led
men all along to suppose that these prescriptions were
really ancient and even of Mosaic origin, instead of being
the product of a very late age. In the older Lectionary
of the Church of England not a single chapter was selected
for public reading, whether on Sundays and on holidays,
or in the common daily service, out of these two Books,
though so much was given from Esther and Ecclesiastes,
and even from the apocryphal books of Tobit, Judith,
Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch — nay, Bel and the
Dragon, and the story of Susannah. This cannot have
arisen from any lack of interesting matter in the Books of
Chronicles ; on the contrary, the writer's style is of a very
decidedly religious and practical character, well suited,
as many would think, for the work of edifying. Accordingly
in the New Lectionary several chapters of the First Book are
appointed for Sunday Lessons, while others in the Second
Book appear in the columns for daily use. It is possible that
the framers of the older Lectionary were aware of the con-
tradictions between the statements of the Chronicles and those
of the Books of Samuel and Kings, and thought it not good
to bring these differences into view before an ordinary con-
gregation. 1 However this may be, the fact is that in the
Books of Chronicles the priests and the Levites, carefully dis-
tinguished from each other, fill the foreground of the picture
on various occasions, of which no example can be found in
the older histories, as also that the sacrificial system, as laid
down in the Levitical Law, is exhibited everywhere in full

1 e. g. comp. iCh.x.i-12 with iS.xxxi.1-13 — xi. 1-9 with 2S. v. 1-3,6-10 —
z/. 10-4 1 a with 2S.xxiii.8-39 — xiii.6-14 with 2S.vi.2,3,5~ii — xiv.i-16 with 2S.
v. 11-25 — xvii,xviii,xix, with 2S.vii,viii,x — xx with 2S.xi. i,xii.30, 3i,xxi. 18-22 —
xxi.1-27 with 2S.xxiv. 1-4, 9-25 — 2Ch.i.7-i2 with 1 K.iii. 5-14— v. 14-17 with
iK.x.26-29 — iv.2-5 w frk iK.vii.23-26 — v. 1 1-22 with lK.vii.40-50 — vii. 11-22
with 1K.ix.1-9— viii with iK.ix.10,17-28, &c, &c ; but see the full proof of the
statements made above in Part VII.

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER. 335

operation, of which no trace appears in the older prophets
down to the Captivity.

Amos, for instance, is so far from blaming his people for
disregard of the Levitical Law that he asks 'Was it
sacrifices and offerings that ye brought near to me in the
wilderness forty years, House of Israel?' 2 — that is, 'Was
that what I required of you then, that you think to pacify
me now with such things ? ' — as if he knew nothing of any
such Law, m which multitudinous sacrifices are said to
have been enjoined in the wilderness. Isaiah says, 'I am
full of the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts ;
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of
he-goats. When ye come to appear before Me, who hath
required this at your hands that ye may tread My courts ?' 8 —
whereas in the Levitical Law these very things were expressly
required of any who would ' tread the courts of Jehovah.'
Jeremiah says, ' I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded
them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices ; but this thing I
commanded them saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your
God and ye shall be my people/ 4 But in the Levitical Law
Jehovah does speak especially about 'burnt-offerings and
sacrifices ; ' and such words could not have been written if the
sacrificial laws of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers had either
been actually prescribed in the wilderness, or had existed in
Jeremiah's time in the story of the Exodus. Nor would
Ezekiel have laid down his laws for the regulation of the
priesthood, their office and income, 5 if these subjects had been
fully treated of in the middle Books of the Pentateuch, or
prescribed sacrifices at variance with those already prescribed
in books regarded as Mosaic and Divine. 6 In short, the whole

* Am.v.25. » Is. i. 11,12.

* Jer.vii.22,23. • Ez.xliii. 1 8-27, xliv. 4-31.

• In Ez.xlv, comp. r.23,24 with N.xxviii. 19-22,^.25 with N.xxix. 13-38 ; in
Ez.xlvi, comp. v. 4 with N.xxviii. 9,2*. 6 with N.xxviii. 11, p. 7 with N.xxviii. 1 2- 1 4,
v. 13 with E.xxix. 38-40, N.xxviii. 3-5

336 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

tone of the prophets differed utterly from that of the priestly
mind, to which we owe the system of ritual enjoined in the
Later Legislation ; and, accordingly, they repeatedly dis-
parage, even contemptuously, the offering of sacrifices in com-
parison with moral rectitude and goodness. 7

It is true, the expression « Law of Jehovah ' often occurs
in ordinary translations of prophetical books. 8 But the
Hebrew word for ' Law ' means properly ' instruction,
teaching/ and is used by the prophets to denote the
teaching of themselves and their predecessors, which they
called the 'teaching of Jehovah/ because Jehovah, as
they believed, had put it into their hearts for the instruc-
tion of their brethren ; as where, for instance, Isaiah says,
' This is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will
not hear the instruction of JEHOVAH, who say to the seers,
See not, and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right
things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits.' • And
so, too, it is used for the ' instruction ' which the priests, both
before and after the Captivity, gave to pious enquirers, with
reference to sacrifices of all kinds, vows, leprosy, &c. 10

Again the prophets before the Captivity refer often to
incidents which are mentioned in the Original Story of the
Pentateuch. 11 But not one of them makes the least allusion
to any part of the Levitical Law ; they never once mention
the name of Aaron as priest, and know nothing of the
distinction between priests and Levites ; though Ezekiel,
as I have said, 12 shows a close connexion with the oldest
portions of this Legislation, and after the Captivity Haggai

' Is.i. 1 1-14,16, 17, Hos. vi. 6, Am. v. 14,15,21-23.

• e.g. Is. i. 10, ii. 3, v. 24, viii. 1 6, 20, xxx. 9, Hos. iv. 6, viii. 1 , Am. ii. 4, Mic iv. 2.

• Is.xxx.9-1 1.

10 Ez.xxii.26, Zq>h.iii.4, Hag.ii.n-13, Mal.ii.7,9, com P- D.xxiv.8.

" Am.ii.9,io,iii.i,2,iv.n,v.25,26,vii.9, Hos.ii.i4,i5,ix.io,xi.i,8,xii.3,4,5,9,

I2,i3,xiii.4,5, Is.i.9,io,iii.9,x.24,26,xi.i6,xii.2,5, Mic.vi.4,5,vii.i5, Nah.i.3,

Zeph.ii.9. " p. 192

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER. 337

apparently makes a distinct reference, to it 13 Towards the
end of the Captivity the Later Isaiah says that all Israelites
shall be called 'priests of f Jehovah/ 'ministers of our
God/ 14 and that out of them — the Israelites generally —
' Jehovah will take for priests, for Levites/ l * Haggai and
Zechariah, writing soon after the return from the Captivity,
throw no light upon this question. But Malachi, probably
a contemporary of Nehemiah, speaks of the 'sons of
Levi ' as priests, who shall be ' purged as gold and silver/
that they may 'bring-near to Jehovah an offering in
righteousness'; 16 and he refers to their having 'corrupted
the Covenant .of Levi/ I7 under which the whole tribe was
appointed to act as priests for their brethren. 18 Nehemiah,
however, in his genuine memoir, 19 speaks of the Levites,
and also of the Nethinim, 20 as building their portion of
the wall apart from the priests. 21 In his time, therefore,
the distinction, it seems, was recognized ; though Malachi,
his contemporary, still speaks of the priests by the older
designation 'the sons of Levi/ 2 * instead of using the
newly-coined phrase ' the sons of Aaron/

We have already seen that in the Books of Samuel and
Kings — except in one verse which is manifestly a later
interpolation 23 — there is no trace of any distinction being
made as yet between the priests and Levites, and that
there is much, as in the account of Eli's time, 24 which is
irreconcileable with the notion of the very existence of the
Levitical Legislation. It is very different when we turn to
the Books of Chronicles. Here constantly, as in the Books
of Ezra and Nehemiah — about ninety times altogether —
we find, exactly as in the Levitical Legislation, a strong

11 Hag.ii.u-13. u Is.lxL6. >* Is.lxvi.21.

»• Mal.iii.3. >' Mal.ii.8. "■ p. 238.

•• p. 328. * Nch. Hi. 17,22,26,28. ™ v.i, 22,28.

n Mal.iii.3. n iK.viii.4, see p.252. «• p.248.

Z

338 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

line of demarcation drawn between the priests and the
Levites, as forming two distinct orders of clergy, as also
between both orders and the laity. Thus after Saul's death
there come to David, among other supporters, 4,600 Levites
and 3,700 'sons of Aaron/ 25 a designation which never
once appears in the earlier historical books or in any of
the prophetical writings. And yet, notwithstanding all this
troop of priests and Levites, when a few years afterwards
David undertakes to bring up the ark to Mount Zion, he
employs only laymen for the work, and on that account
solely, according to the Chronicler, the driver Uzza met
with the accident which caused his death. It was only, he
tells us, after the lesson taught by this sad event that
David said, ' None ought to carry the ark of God but the
Levites';* 6 and so he summons them to bring up the ark
on the second occasion saying, 'Ye are the heads of the
fathers of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, ye and your
brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah the
God of Israel to where I have prepared for it ; for because
ye did not at the first, JEHOVAH our God made a breach upon
us, because we sought Him not after the due order. So
the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring
up the ark of Jehovah the God of Israel. And the sons
of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders
with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according
to the word of Jehovah.' 87 Did, then, not one of the
3,700 priests and 4,600 Levites lift up his voice to warn
the king against the profanity of his first attempt? And
how was it that out of this large body, after such awful
warning and the special summons of the king, only two
priests and 862 Levites appear to have attended on the
second occasion ? 28

25 iCh.xii.26,27. 2 * iCh.xv.2. M v. 12-15. n v.4-11.

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER. 339

So, whereas the Book of Samuel tells us that ' David and
all the House of Israel brought up the ark of Jehovah with
shouting and with trumpet-sounds/ w the Chronicler informs
us that ' David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint
flieir brethren to be the choristers with instruments of music,
psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, sounding by lifting up the
voice with joy/ *° while seven priests ' did blow with the trum-
pets before the ark.' 8l And, instead of the statement in the
older narrative, ' And David danced before Jehovah with all
his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod/ M the
Chronicler writes, ' And David was clothed with a robe of fine
linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark and the choristers,
and Chenaniah the song-master with the choristers, and David
had upon him a linen ephod/ 88 In short, the story is turned
into a glorification of these surpliced Levites ; and the fact,
that he gives the very names of the chief Levites and a
number $f others, 84 only shows more clearly the boldness of
his genius ; for names and numbers, as well as other details
of the narrative as transformed by his hand, are all equally
fictitious. 85

Then he goes on to tell us how David set up a body of
Levite choristers with Asaph at their head, playing with
psalteries and harps and cymbals and trumpets, ' before the
ark of the covenant of God ' at Jerusalem, 86 and stationed at
the same time Zadok and his brethren the priests, with Heman
and Jeduthun and another troop of Levite choristers and
gatekeepers, before the Mosaic Tabernacle in the high-place
at Gibeon, to offer the Daily Sacrifice morning and evening
' according to all that is written in the Law of Jehovah
which He commanded Israel/ 37 This fiction, however, of the
Tabernacle with its Brazen Altar having been set up at

* 2S.vi.15. •• 1Ch.xv.16. " ^.24. w 2S.vi.i4.

** 1Ch.xv.27. •* v. 5-1 1, 17-24. •» For the full proof of this see Part VII.

* iCh.xvi.4-6,37. n v.38-42.

Z2

340 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

Gibeon, 88 has been introduced with the idea of accounting for
the fact of Solomon's having sacrificed on that high-place,* 9
contrary to the prescriptions of the Levitical Law, which re-
quired all sacrifices to be brought to the entrance of the
Tabernacle, and the blood to be sprinkled upon the Brazen
Altar in front of it, 40 and even contrary to the law in Deute-
ronomy, which confined all sacrifices to 'the place which
Jehovah would choose.' 4l It is everywhere the same : while
he carefully suppresses the account of David's adultery,
treachery, and detestable act of murder, 49 and of Solomon's
bloody king-craft, polygamy, and gross idolatry 48 — suppresses,
in short, whatever could reflect reproach upon the founder
and builder of the Temple — he has deliberately falsified the
history of these kings and of the other kings throughout, so as
to represent the ordinances of the Levitical Law as in full
operation, and the Levites especially as in great request, from
David's time downwards, in the very teeth of the more
authentic narrative of the Books of Samuel and Kings, while
yet in the main carefully following the statements, and often
copying the identical words, of that narrative.

Thus in his old age David, he tells us, numbered the Levites
' from thirty years old and upwards/ 44 just exactly the age in
the Book of Numbers, 45 though a later insertion in that Book
reduces it to twenty-five years, 48 and the Chronicler makes
David by ' his last words ' reduce it to twenty years. 47 He
finds 38,000 of them, and of these 24,000 were to oversee the
Temple, 6,000 to be officers and judges, 4,000 to be choristers,
and 4,000 to be gatekeeper?, 48 — though in Zedekiah's un-
happy time, it seems, there were only three gatekeepers. 49
He divides the priests into courses, sixteen of the house of

w 2Ch.i.3,5,6,i3. " iK.iii.4. «• L.xvii.3-6.

41 D.xii.5,6,11,13,14. ° 2S.xi.i-27. « iK.ii.23-34,xi.i-io.

44 iCh.xxiii.3. " N.iv.47. *• N.viii.24.

47 iCh.xxiii.24-27. « tf.3-5. * 2K.xxiv.18.

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER. 341

Eleazar and eight of that of Ithamar, 60 these two being named
as ' sons of Aaron ' in the Levitical Legislation. 51 He divides
also into courses the choristers M and the gatekeepers. 58 But
especially he sends out Levites everywhere in special positions
of great authority — the sons of Izhar ' for the outward business
over Israel as officers and judges,' the sons of Hebron, 1,700
of them, as officers west of the Jordan and 2,700 as rulers east
of the Jordan ' for all matters pertaining to God and affairs
of the king ' M — of all which there is not a trace in the older
history.

Again he tells us how David before his death gave to Solo-
mon a prodigious amount of gold and silver for the Temple,
viz. three thousand talents of gold (£15,000,000) and
seven thousand talents of silver (£2,471,000), all 'of his own
proper good/ besides what he had already 'prepared for
the holy house/ viz. a hundred thousand talents of gold
(£500,000,000) and a million talents of silver (£353,000,000) M ,
and also 'patterns' for it and for its vessels, which JEHOVAH
had ' made him understand in writing/ M and how his great
men followed his example by making splendid offerings,
five thousand talents of gold (£25,000,000) and ten thousand
talents of silver (£3,530,ooo), 57 and David uttered a prayer
of thanksgiving. 68 But the language of this prayer is wholly
the Chronicler's own, as the psalm of praise, which he repre-
sents elsewhere as sung by David's order, is made up of pieces
of later psalms. 59

But time would fail to recount the endless perversions of
the older more authentic history which we find in the Chroni-
cler's narrative — how, when David sacrificed on the site of the
future Temple, Jehovah 'answered him from heaven by fire

" iCh.xxiv.1^4. •' L.x.6,12,16. *» 1 Ch. xxv. 53.

M lCh.xxvi.i-12. M tf.29,30. *» iCh.ix.3,4,xxiLi4.

•• iCh.xxviii. 11-13,19. " 1Ch.xxix.6-9. *• v. 10-25.

*• 1Ch.xvi.8-22, made up with some slight alterations from Ps.cv. I-I5,xcvi,cvii.
i,cvi.47,48.

342 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

upon the altar of burnt-offering/ and again at Solomon's
Dedication of the Temple, ' fire came down from heaven and
consumed the burnt-offering and the sacrifices, and the glory
of JEHOVAH filled the House/ 60 — how Solomon appointed
the priests and Levites to their charges, ' for so was the com-
mandment of David the man of God/ 6I — how Abijah with
400,000 met Jeroboam with 800,000, and slew 500,000 of
them, 6 * after making a long speech to the enemy in which he
says, ' Have ye not cast out the priests, the sons of Aaron ?
. . . But as for us, JEHOVAH is our God and we have not for-
saken Him, and the priests which minister unto JEHOVAH are
the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business/ **
— how Jehoshaphat sent princes and Levites and priests, all
named, to teach the Book of the Law in the cities of Judah, 64
and had a standing army of 1,160,000 soldiers, who 'waited
on the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortresses
throughout all Judea/ M and set Levites and priests as judges
in Jerusalem, 66 — how Moab and Ammon and Edom came
against Jehoshaphat, 67 and, as soon as the Levites began to
sing and praise before his army, the Ammonites and Moabites
fell upon the Edomites, and, * when they had made an end of
them, they helped to destroy one another. . . . And Judah
looked unto the multitude, and lo ! they were dead bodies
fallen to the earth, and none escaped ' w — how Jehoshaphat
made ships on the Red Sea to go to Tarshish in Spain, 69 where
the Chronicler has made a curious mistake in copying the
older writer, who only says that he made ' ships of Tarshish ' 7o
— that is, large merchant-ships, such as went the long voyage
to Tarshish, as we should say ' Indiamen ' — to go to Ophir,

90 lCh.xxi.26, 2Ch.vii.i, comp. L.ix.24. §1 2Ch.viii.14.

n 2Ch.xiii.3,7. •» v. 9. i4 2Ch.xvii.7-9.

•» v. 14-19. * 2Ch.xix.8-ii.

61 2Ch.xx. 1, where read 'some of the Meunim (Edomites),' instead of * beside
the Ammonites,' E.V.
w v. 22-28. • tf.36,37. *• 1K.xxii.48.

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER. 343

very possibly the coast-line of the African gold-fields — how a
letter, which is given at full length, came to Joram from
Elijah the prophet, 71 who had been translated to heaven at
least seven years previously 7a — how the zeal and courage of
the priests and Levites, instead of the guards, as stated In
the older history, 73 enabled Jehoiada to kill the wicked
usuiper Athaliah and restore the kingdom to the young prince
Joash — how Joash levied the poll-tax which Moses laid upon
Israel in the wilderness 74 — how Joash and Amaziah fell into
idolatry and on that account 75 were killed by the hands of
conspirators 76 — how king Uzziah wished to offer incense In
the Temple, and the chief priest and eighty other priests
withstood him and said, ' It is not for thee, Uzziah, to burn
incense unto Jehovah, but for the priests the sons of Aaron :
go out of the holy place, for thou hast trespassed,' and Uzziah
was wroth, and this was the cause of his leprosy 77 — how Ahaz,
because he was an idolatrous king, was attacked by Pekah
king of Israel, who slew in one day 120,000 men of Judah,
and led away captive 200,000 women and children, and abun-
dance of spoil, but at the word of a prophet restored them all
with the most fraternal tenderness 78 — how Hezekiah, with the
help of the priests and Levites, reformed religion in Judah, 70
and kept a great passover, a century before Josiah's time, 80
and ordered the people to ' give the portion of the priests and
Levites/ which they did faithfully, and the chief priest said,
1 Since they began to bring the offerings into the House of
Jehovah, we have had enough to eat, and have left plenty' 81
— how Manasseh for his sins was carried captive to Babylon,
and there repented, and Jehovah brought him back to
Jerusalem, and he cleared the Temple and the City of all

n 2Ch.xxi.i2,i3. « p. 161.

n 2Ch.xxiii.2,4-8, eomp. 2K.xi.4-16. u 2Ch.xxiv.6,9.

? * 2Ch.xxiv. 2,17-26, xxv. 2,27,28. Ta 2K.xii.20,2i,xiv. 19.

" 2Ch.xxvi. 16-21, eomp. 2K.XV.5. •» 2Ch.xxviii.5-i5.

'• 2Ch.xxix. n 2Ch.xxx. « 2Ch.xxxi.2-i0.

344 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER.

idolatrous images and altars, 82 anticipating also Josiah's doings
— how Josiah himself in the eighth year of his reign ' began
to seek Jehovah/ and in the twelfth year ' began to purge
Judah and Jerusalem from the high-places and asheras and
images/ 83 while not a word is said by the Chronicler about
the Great Reformation in the eighteenth year of his reign,
which showed that all along, from the time of Solomon
downwards, the grossest idolatries were practised in Judah, 84
— except that he mentions the passover kept at this time,
in which, of course, the priests and Levites are especially
prominent. 86

Here is a mass of fictions, which we owe to the mistaken
zeal of this writer, probably himself a Levite chorister, 86 and
writing at the earliest 250 87 — perhaps 350 — years after the
Captivity, and which have exercised a sort of glamour upon
the eyes of a multitude of pious readers ever since, of the
clergy as well as of the laity. Of course, the earlier his-
torian, living before that dire catastrophe in which so many
records of preceding times must have perished, must have
had access to any documents from which, two or three cen-
turies afterwards, the Chronicler might be thought to have
derived additional details. And, if he mentions none of these
things, nor even hints at the distinction between priests and
Levites or the conspicuous part they played throughout the
history, we may be sure that they were wholly unknown to
him, and are the offspring of the Chronicler's own imagina-
tion, reflecting the spirit of his later Levitical times. The
genealogies in iCh.i. are taken from the Book of Genesis, as

•» 2Ch.xxxii.n-19. u 2Ch.xxxiv.3-7.

•* 2K.xxiii.1-25. •• 2Ch.xxxv.1-19.

81 Observe the special interest which the writer shows in the Levite choristers,
lCh.vi.3i-48,xv. 16-24,27,28, xvi.4-42,xxiii. $,xxv, 2Ch.v. 12, 13, vii.6,xx. 19,21,22,
xxiii. 13, 18, xxix. 22-28,30, xxx.21, xxxi.2,xxxiv. I2,xxxv. 15.

• T In Neh.xii. 11 the descent is given of Jaddua, high-priest (according to
Josephus) in Alexander's time, B.C. 332 : but some (as Kuenen) set the
Chronicler's age as low as B.C. 250.

THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER. 345

are some of those in ch.iL, and most of those in ch.iii. from
the Books of Samuel and Kings. But, knowing what we
now do of his character, we can place no reliance on any of his
genealogical statements which are not supported by other
authorities, as, for instance, on his line of chief priests from
Aaron down to the Captivity. 88 He is capable of inventing
such genealogies, with a whole array of names and numbers,
to any extent, when the occasion seems to call for them.
Here and there experienced critics may detect a notice which
seems to have the ring of historical fact about it, 89 and which
he may have derived from some authentic source, like the
letters to and from Artaxerxes in Ezr. iv. 90 or the memoir of
Nehemiah. 91 But for ordinary readers, who wish to have a
true conception of the course of Hebrew history, the Books of
Chronicles must be set aside altogether, as not only untrust-
worthy, but utterly misleading.

The time is past for glossing over such conduct as the
Chronicler's with fair words, and ascribing to him only error
or exaggeration, but no intentional departure from the truth.
He has set himself down to reconstruct the history of his
people as known to himself in the older records, and he has
done this in the interest of the clerical body, to which in all
probability he himself belonged. If the Chronicler, indeed,
had been writing merely from tradition, it would not have
been surprising that he should have stereotyped in this man-
ner what might have been the genuine convictions of himself
and of his age ; as the writers of the earlier portions of the
Pentateuch, in trying to compose some accounts of the patri-
archs, and the author of the Books of Kings, in embodying
with more veracious narratives the legendary tales about
Elijah 92 and Elisha 98 or the return of the sun's shadow ten

M 1Ch.vi.4-15. •• e.g. iCh.iv. 39-43. •• p. 324,5.

91 p. 328. •» 2K.U.1-12.

91 2K.ii.i4,2i,24,iii.i6-24,iv. 1-7, 16, 17,32-37,38-41,42-44, v.8-!4,26,27,vi.
5-7,8-12, 13-18,23, vii. 1,6, 7, i7-20,viii.i,5,xiii. 14-19,20,21.

346 THE FICTIONS OF THE CHRONICLER,

degrees upon the dial of Ahaz, 94 have not violated the laws of
historical good faith, taking into account the times in which
they lived. But, when we see the Chronicler with the older
history before him, from which he is actually copying word for
word, deliberately giving an entirely different representation
of the whole course of events, with the purpose of leading his
readers to believe that from the earliest times the Levitical
Law was in full force in Judah, it is impossible, with a due
regard to truth, to acquit him of the great crime of falsifying
facts of history well known to him.

But the Chronicler had before him the example of the
Later Legislation of the Pentateuch, where priestly writers
of an age not very far distant from his own, had entirely
modified the known facts of their national history, ascribing
to JEHOVAH laws which they themselves had laid down, often
for their own aggrandisement ; and he resolved, it would
seem, to take upon himself the task of supplying historical
support for these pretensions. When, however, we consider
that for 2,000 years the whole course of Jewish history has
been thrown into confusion mainly by the acts of these
writers, and that Christianity itself owes much of its past
and present corruptions and superstitions, — such as the idea of
the priestly office and the popular notion of the Atonement,
based upon the supposed Divine origin of the sacrificial laws
in the Pentateuch — to the existence of these priestly and
Levitical fictions, it * is not easy to speak lightly of a fraud
which has had such enormous and far-reaching evil con-
sequences ; while we find here another warning — unhap-
pily by no means unneeded in the present age — that 'lies
spoken in the name of the Lord/ 95 however well meant,
can never work out the good of man or the righteousness of
God

• 4 2K.xx.8-1 1. >* Zech.xiii.3.

LECTURE XXV.

SUMMARY.

The Psalms, Proverbs, Canticles, Lamentations, Job, Esther, Ecclesiastes,
contain no allusion to the L. L. ; the very late Book of Daniel refers to it ; the
story of the discovery and destruction of the Moabite Stone ; the characters
engraved upon it ; its contents ; signs of progress in writing in an early age,
so that the O.S. may have been composed in the days of David and Solomon;
the language shows the close affinity of the Moabites to the Hebrews ; Moab
seems to have thrown off the yoke of Solomon at the same time with Edom
and Syria ; ' forty years ' used in the Stone for an indefinite long period ;
Chemosh, the Sun-God of Moab, fills the same place in this inscription as
Yahveh, the Sun-God of Canaan, does in the Bible ; the worship of Che-
mosh in substance identical with that of Yahveh, who is here recognised as
the National Deity of the Ten Tribes ; the name Yahveh known to the
Moabites, and therefore spoken by the Israelites of that age ; striking discre-
pancy between the Hebrew and Moabite records about Mesha and his
conflicts with Israel ; extravagance of the Hebrew story ; the two accounts
have been reconciled by assuming that the one takes up the narrative where
the other leaves it ; improbability of this supposition ; the Bible, with all its
defects and faults, the mightiest instrument in the hands of the Divine
Teacher for revealing to us His True Name.

THE MOABJTE STONE.

£HE Book of Psalms contains compositions of all
ages, from the time of David — possibly even
Samuel — downwards, till that of the Maccabees, 1
about B.C. 175, three centuries and a half after
the return from Babylon. In some of these allusions are
made to Aaron as Priest,* to the distinction between the
priests and the Levites, 3 to the ' precious ointment that ran
down upon the beard of Aaron and went down to the skirts
of his garments/ 4 or to some other feature of the Levitical
Legislation. 5 But such allusions occur only in very late
psalms written after the Captivity, as the most eminent
scholars allow. 1 The Book of Proverbs consists of seven
Parts, of which the first five were written before the Captivity
and the last two after it ; ! but throughout we find no trace
whatever of the Levitical Legislation. The Song of Solomon,
a beautiful idyll, intended apparently to exhibit the supe-
riority of pure wedded love, though in humble circumstances,
fo all considerations of mere earthly wealth and grandeur,

1 See Part VII for the proof of this.

■ Ps.xcix.6(?),cvi. i6,cxv. 10, I2,cxviii.3,cxxxv. 19.

• Ps.cxxxv. 19,20. * Ps.cxxxiii.2, camp. E.xxx.25,30.

• Ps.lxxxi.3, comp. L.xxiii.24,39,41. N.xxix. I ; Ps.xcv. 10, 1 1, comp. N.xiv.33,
34; Ps.cvi.32,33, comp. N. xx. 2-1 2 ; Ps.cvi.29,30, comp. N.xxv.6-13.

350 THE MOABITE STONE.

was probably written in the northern kingdom under the reign
of Jeroboam II. (B.C. 8oo), ! but contains not the least allusion
to the Levitical Law. Then come in order of age the Lamen-
tations, probably composed by Jeremiah, partly during the
siege of Jerusalem, partly after it (B.C. 588-6) l — the Book of
Job, written about a century afterwards or even later * — the
Book of Esther, an extravagant romance, written about two
centuries later still l — Ecclesiastes, about B.C. 200 l — in none
of which is there any reference to the Levitical Law. Lastly,
we have the Book of Daniel, written under the form of pro-
phecies ascribed to Daniel, to support the faith and courage
of the Jews under the oppressive measures of Antiochus
Epiphanes (B.C. 165) ; ! and in this we find some allusions
to the priestly Law, 6 which was at that time in full force. If
we add that in none of the older prophets before Jeremiah
do we find any trace of acquaintance with the Book of
Deuteronomy, it will be seen that we have here indirectly very
strong additional support for the conclusions, that Deute-
ronomy was written in the age and apparently by the hand
of Jeremiah himself, and that the Levitical Legislation was
begun by Ezekiel and completed by priests of that age and
after it

Let us now consider what further light is thrown upon the
subjects discussed in these Lectures by that most interesting
relic of antiquity which has been lately found, the Moabite
Stone. I will first give a brief account of its discovery, 7 and
then of its contents, and afterwards draw some inferences from
them in connexion with these enquiries.

In August, 1868, a German Missionary 8 was in the land
of Moab, which lies along the eastern side of the Dead Sea,

• Dan.ix.11,13, 'Lawof Moses'— Dan.viii.n-I3,xi.3i,xii.ii t « continual sacri-
fice, ' ix.21, ' evening oblation,' comp. E.xxix. 38-42, N.xxviii.3-8.

1 The (acts in this Lecture are mainly derived from Dr. Ginsburg's admirable
work on the Moabite Stone, 2nd Ed., to which G. refers in the notes below.

■ The Rev. F.Klein of the Church Missionary Society.

THE MOABITE STONE. 35*

a country little visited by Europeans, and, when near
Dibon, he was informed by an Arab Sheikh, his friend and
protector, that hardly ten minutes off there was a black
basalt stone inscribed with ancient characters. He found
it lying among the ruins of Dibon, perfectly exposed and
with its face uppermost, about ift loin, high, 2ft. broad,
and \4\in. thick, rounded at top and bottom, and containing
thirty-four lines of inscription running across the Stone.
The Missionary did not appreciate the immense importance
of this discovery, and merely copied a few words from the
Stone and compiled an alphabet ; though he took measures
at once to secure it for the Berlin Museum, which, in
consequence of the conflicting powers and repeated absences
of the different Pachas concerned, proved a very tedious
and intricate business. For nearly three thousand years
that stone had lain exposed to all the elements uncared
for : but now the Moabites found that it was very valuable,
and worth, as they supposed, its weight in gold. ^A few
weeks afterwards a man came purposely to inform the
agent of the Palestine Exploration Society 9 of its existence :
but he, knowing that the Prussian Consul was moving in
the matter, would take no action about it. In the spring
of 1869, however, he learnt with astonishment, as did also
a member of the Frepch Consulate at Jerusalem, 10 that no
copy or 'squeeze* of the inscription had been taken. In
July, 1869, the former had to leave for the Lebanon ; but
the latter, with indiscreet zeal, not only sent men to obtain
squeezes, who quarrelled in the presence of the Arabs, but
offered for the Stone the sum of £375, whereas £io had
been already promised by the Prussian authorities and
had been at last agreed to by those who held it, after long
and wearisome negotiations, the sum of £1000 having been

• Capt. Warren. »• M. Clermont-Ganneau.

352 THE M0AB1TE STONE.

asked for it at one time. But now the Governor of Nabltis
interposed and demanded this splendid prize for himself;
and the Moabites, exasperated with this claim, in November,
1869, 'sooner than give it up, put a fire under it, and threw
cold water on it, and so broke it, and then distributed
the bits among the different families, to be placed in the
granaries and act as blessings upon the corn ; for they
said that without the Stone a blight would fall upon their
crops/ 11 Of these fragments twenty are now in the French
savant's possession, containing in all 613 letters ; while
eighteen small pieces are held by the Palestine Exploration
Society, containing 56 letters, making a total of 669 out
of 1,100, which the entire Stone must have contained —
that is to say, about two-thirds of the whole inscription.
Most of the missing letters, however, have been recovered
from the squeezes taken before and after the Stone was
broken, so that only 35 words, 15 half-words, and 18 letters —
less than one-seventh of the whole — remain to be supplied
from conjecture, but are often clearly suggested by the
context ; and it is just to say that the person, who has
most successfully laboured at this restoration of the entire
inscription, is the French archaeologist himself.

This Stone records three series of events in the reign of
Mesha king of Moab, who is mentioned in the Bible la as
having rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab, B.C.
898, and who lived therefore about B.C. 900, only 7 5 years
after Solomon's time, and may have erected this Stone about
B.C. 890. The First Part of this Inscription runs as fol-
lows : —

4 1 Mesha am son of Chemosh-Gad king of Moab the
Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and
I reigned after my father. And I erected this Stone to

■» G.p.io. " 2K.iii.4,5.

THE MOABITE STONE. 353

Chemosh at Korcha, a Stone of Salvation, for he saved me
from all despoilers and made me see my desire upon all
my enemies, even Omri king of Israel. Now they afflicted
Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his land.
His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will afflict
Moab. In my days he said Let us go and I will see my
desire on him and his house, and Israel — I shall destroy it
with an everlasting destruction. Now Omri took the land
of Medeba, and the enemy occupied it in his days and in
the days of his son, forty years. And Chemosh ftad mercy
on it in my days; and I fortified Baal-Meon and made
therein the tank, and I fortified Kiriathaim. For the men
of Gad dwelt in the land of Ataroth from of old, and the
king of /srael fortified for himself A/aroth, and I assaulted
the wall and captured it, and killed all the warriors of the
wall for the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moab ; and I
removed from it all the spoil, and offered it before Chemosh
in Kirjath ; and I placed therein the men of Siran (? Sebam)
and the men of Mochrath. And Chemosh said to me, Go,
take Nebo against Israel, And I went in the night, and I
fought against it from the break of dawn till noon, and I
took it and slew in all seven thousand men, but I did
not kill the women, and waidens, for / devoted them to
Ashtar-Chemosh ; and I took from it tJie vessels of
Yahveh and offered them before Chemosh. And the
King of Israel fortified Jahaz and occupied it, when he
made war against me ; and Chemosh drove him out before
me, and I took from Moab two hundred men, all its poor, and
placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon.'

The Second Part describes the public works under-
taken by Mesha after his deliverance from his Jewish
oppressors, 13 and the Third records his successful wars

w ' I built Korcha, the wall of the forest, and the wall of the city, and I built
the gates thereof, and I built the towers thereof, and I built the palace, and I

A A

t

354 THE MOABITE STONE.

against the Edomites. 14 But these two Parts have no
special interest for us in connexion with our present subject ;
we will confine our attention to the First Part of the Inscrip-
tion.

(i) Here, first, we notice that the art of writing must
have already far advanced in that early age, B.C. 900,
since this stone is clearly and distinctly engraved, with no
sign of rudeness and imperfection in the work, the words
being carefully separated by points and the clauses by
vertical strokes, and the story is recorded in a plain and per-
spicuous style and in a perfectly grammatical form. There
is therefore no reason to doubt that the art of writing may
have been freely practised among the Hebrews in the time
of Solomon and David, comp. 2S.xi.i4,iS, and that in that
age the Original Story of the Pentateuch may have been
written.

(ii) Next, the letters engraved on this Stone, as I have
said, are not the later square Chaldee characters as in our
printed Hebrew Bibles, but the Phoenician, called also the
Samaritan, which were used by the Hebrews before the
Captivity. These characters, says GlNSBURG, were common
before B.C. 700 to all the races of W. Asia, and were used
in Nineveh, Phoenicia, Jerusalem, Samaria, Moab, Cilicia,
Cyprus ; so that we have here the alphabet ' from which
the Greek, the Roman, and all other European alphabets

made the prisons for the criminals within the walls. And there was no cistern in
the wall at Korcha, and I said to all the people, make for yourselves everyman a
cistern in his house. And I dug the ditch for Korcha with the chosen men of
/srael. I built Aroer, and I made the road across the Arnon. I built Beth-Bamoth,
for it was destroyed ; I built Bezer, for it was cvJdown by the armed men of Dibon,
for all Dibon was now loyal ; and I reigned from Bikran which I added to my
land, and I bui// Beth- Gamul &nd Beth-Diblathaim and Beth-Baal-Meon, and I
placed there the poor people of the land.'

14 • And as to Horonaim the men of Edom dwelt therein on the descent from of
old. And Chemosh said to me, Go down, make war against Horonaim and taXr
ii. And 1 assaulted it, and I took it, ana Chemosh restored it in my days. Where-
fore I TQAjde . . . year . . and I . . V

THE MOABITE STONE. 355

have been derived, the veritable prototype of modern
writing.' As we find among them representatives of all
the twenty-two letters of the ancient Semitic alphabet, the
story, that only sixteen were brought into Greece from
Phoenicia, falls at once to the ground, and, doubtless, the
whole Phoenician alphabet was taken over by the Greeks
from Kadmus, that is, 'the man of the east/ for kedem in
Hebrew means ' the east/ The language, however, though
closely akin to that found in Phoenician inscriptions, is still
more nearly allied to Biblical Hebrew, and almost, indeed,
identical with it In fact, 'the whole vocabulary of the
Moabite Stone is to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures ' ; I5
while certain shades of meaning are for the first time
supplied for certain Hebrew words. This shows how
closely related were the Hebrews to the Phoenicians and
Moabites, and, no doubt, to the Ammonites and Edomites,
and other tribes in the midst of which they settled down
when they came out of Egypt And so David allied
himself closely with the Phoenicians, 16 whom according to
the Pentateuch he was bound to have utterly destroyed ; I7
and he was himself of Moabite descent through his
ancestress Ruth, 18 and, when threatened by Saul, he sent
his parents to the care of the king of Moab. 19

(iii) We are not told why David afterwards ' smote Moab '
and slew in cold blood two-thirds of the population, and re-
duced the whole land to subjection. 80 But at some time or
other after this the Moabites must have shaken off the yoke
of Judah, since, according to this Stone, Omri, Ahab's father,
conquered them again about fifty or sixty years after Solo-
mon's time. Most probably they revolted from Solomon at
the time when Edom and Syria appear to have regained their
independence, after the death of David and Joab, in the

" G.p.29. w 2S.v. ii,iK.v.i. 17 D.xx.16, comp. J.xiii.6.

11 R.iv. 13-17. ■• iS.xxii.3,4. ,0 2S.viii.i,2.

A A 2

356 THE M0AB1TE STONE,

very beginning of Solomon's reign. 51 But, according to the
Stone, they were liberated once more by Mesha, and they
seem to have maintained their independence of Israel ever
afterwards.

(iv) Omri is here said to have taken from Moab the land of
Medeba and with his son Ahab to have held it 'forty years.'
But Omri reigned only twelve years and Ahab twenty-two
' years ; M so that they reigned altogether only at most thirty-

* , four years, and the conquest will hardly have been made in

* j the very first year of Omri. In other words, the term of

' forty years ' seems to be used here, as it is with reference to
. the wanderings in the wilderness and often elsewhere in Scrip-
ture, 28 for an indefinite long time, perhaps in this case twenty
or thirty years.

(v) Again, the name of the Sun-God, Chemosh, the National
Deity of Moab, 24 is used in this inscription just exactly as
Jehovah or Yahveh, the name of the National Deity of the
Hebrews, the Sun-God of Canaan, 25 was used by the Hebrews.
Thus the name of Mesha's father, Chemosh-Gad, is com-
pounded with Chemosh, as so many Hebrew names are com-
pounded with Jehovah. 26 Moreover, Gad was the God of
good-fortune, acknowledged by all the Canaanite nations ; so
that Chemosh-Gad means ' Chemosh is the God of good-
fortune/ just as in the Bible Gaddiel means 27 'Gad is
Elohim/ or Baal-Gad 28 means ' Baal is Gad/ or Baal- Yah »
means Baal is Yahveh.' So Mesha erects this ' Stone of
Salvation ' to Chemosh, ' for he saved me from all despoilers ' ;
just as Samuel sets up a ' Stone of Help/ Eben-ezer, saying,
' Hitherto hath Jehovah helped us/ 30 or as David set up a
memorial ' when he returned from smiting the Syrians in the

fl iK.xi.14-25, see p. 58. B iK.xvi.23,29. " p.284.

u N.xxi.29, Ju.xi.24, iK.xi.7,33, 2K.xxiii.13, Jer.xlviii.7,13,46.
«* p. 77- * P. 79- " N.xiii.io.

» J.xi.i7,xii.7,xiii.5. «• iCh.xii.5. *» 1S.vii.12.

THE MOABITE STONE. 357

Valley of Salt' 81 Chemosh here lets Mesha 'see his desire
upon his enemies ' ; and so the Psalmist says, ' God shall let
me see my desire upon mine oppressors/ M and again, ' I shall
see my desire upon my enemies.' ** Chemosh 'was angry'
with his land, and allowed Israel to oppress it : and so 'the
anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and He de-
livered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them.' u
But Chemosh again has mercy upon his land, and gives Mesha
the victory over his foes ; and the Israelites upon the wall are
killed ' for the well-pleasing of Chemosh and Moab/ where
Chemosh is identified uith Moab, as JEHOVAH is with
Israel ; w the spoil is offered before Chemosh, as David offers
his spoil to Jehovah j 36 Chemosh 'said to Mesha, Go, take
Nebo against Israel/ as Jehovah ' said to David, Go, and
smite the Philistines/ a7 and sends Saul to smite Amalek. M
And Mesha does this and kills all the men, but devotes the
women and children to Ashtar-Chemosh, that is, reserves
them for the foul orgies of Sun-worship, of which we see plain
traces in the Bible as practised down to a late age in Israel. 39
So Mesha takes the ' vessels of Jehovah and offers them
before Chemosh/ 40 and Chemosh drives out Israel from before
him at Jahaz. 4! In short, ' if we did not know the nature of
the Moabite religion from other sources, and if the name of
Jehovah were substituted for that of Chemosh, this
Inscription would read like a chapter in the Book of Kings.' 41
(vi) Once more, ' these vessels of Jehovah/ which Mesha
captures at Nebo and dedicates to Chemosh, show that the
Deity worshipped by the Israelites at such high-places as that
at Nebo was really Jehovah, though a Hebrew prophet would
probably have called them ' vessels of the Baal ' ; and ' the

n 2S.viii.13, where the E.V. has «gat him a name.' « Ps.lix.ii.

u Ps.cxviii.7. " Ju.ii.13, comp. iii.8, 2K.xiii.3. •» J.iv.12,13.

* 2S.viii.11. * iS.xxiii.2. ,f iS.xv.2,3.

*• 2K.xxiii.7, comp. D.xxiii. 18. *• comp. iK.vii.5t, 2S.viii.ll.

41 E.xxiii.29,30,xxxiv.u, Ju.ii. 3^1.9. « G.p.38.

558 THE MOABITE STONE.

fact, that these vessels, used in the service of Jehovah, could
so easily be converted into the worship of Chemosh, shows
beyond doubt that the special part of the ritual for which they
were designed was common to the religion both of the Hebrews
and of the Moabites.' 43 Rather, there was probably no
essential difference between the worship of Chemosh and that
of Jehovah carried on at the high-places of Judah and
Jerusalem. Hence the Jewess Naomi, though a worshipper of
JEHOVAH, without any scruple bids Ruth the MoaMtess, her
widowed daughter-in-law, after she had been married ten years
to her son, and had probably conformed to his religion, to
return unto her own people and unto her Elohim Chemosh, as
her sister had done ; but Ruth refuses and says, ' Thy people
shall be my people and thy Elohim my Elohim/ 44 Hence,
too, Solomon built a high-place for Chemosh, to oblige his
Moabite wives, on the Mount of Olives, in full view of the
Temple of Jehovah. 45 And we observe that in this Inscrip-
tion Jehovah is spoken of as the National Deity of the
Northern Kingdom, where, therefore, under the form of a
calf Jehovah or Yahveh must have been worshipped at
Bethel or Dan; 46 so that, when it is said 'Jeroboam drave
Israel from following Jehovah/ 47 it is meant that by setting
up his calves he hindered them from serving the God of
Israel with a higher spiritual worship, undefiled by the gross
symbols and the lascivious and bloody rites of heathenism.

(vii) Further, the name ' Jehovah ' was in later days only
allowed to be used in the priestly benediction in the Temple ;
and when, on the Great Day of the Atonement, the High-
Priest uttered it, while confessing the sins of the nation, ' all
the priests and people in the outer court who heard it had to
kneel down, bow, and fall upon their faces, exclaiming,
' Blessed be the glorious Name of His Majesty for ever ! /

» G.p.22. « R.i. 15,16. «* 2K.xxUi.13.

46 iK.xii.28,29. « 2K.xvii.2i.

/

THE MOABITE STONE. 359

while any layman who pronounced it forfeited his life both
in this world and in the world to come/ 48 Accordingly this
Name is never employed in the Septuagint Version or in the
Apocryphal Books, where Kurios or Lord is always used for
it, from which has been derived 6 the LORD ' of the English
Bible. Now tradition maintains that this superstitious dread
of pronouncing the Name dates after the time of Moses and
that the Law itself distinctly forbids it. And tradition was,
no doubt, right in supposing that the practice was forbidden,
or at least discouraged, in that passage of Leviticus, where
Jehovah orders a man to be stoned to death for blaspheming
' the Name,' 49 the very expression used by the Samaritans
and later Jews instead of uttering the Divine Name. But then
this passage of Leviticus was not written ' in the time of
Moses ' : it is one of the latest portions of the Levitical Law.
Perhaps the Jews, who were settled in Egypt after the
Captivity, adopted this superstition from the Egyptians, who
never uttered the names of certain deities, and passed it on to
the Jews in Palestine. At all events, this Stone shows that
the Name was well known to the Moabites B.C. 900, as that
of the National Deity of Israel, and therefore, no doubt, in
that age it was freely pronounced by the Israelites.

(viii) Lastly, we must compare the Moabite record with the
Hebrew account of this same Mesha and his relations with
Israel. 60 In this we read that Mesha was rich in flocks, and
paid an annual tribute to the king of Israel of 100,000 wethers
and 100,000 rams with their wool, — that he rebelled after
Ahab's death, and that Joram son of Ahab, with his allies,
Jehoshaphat king of Judah and his tributary, the king of Edom,
marched against him by a circuitous route, seven days through
the wilderness of Edom. The three allies, however, with their
troops and cattle, were nearly perishing for want of water

a G.p.22. " L.xxiv.n-16. *• 2K.iii.4-27.

*mm

360 THE MOABITE STONE.

when Jehoshaphat found that EHsha was living near at hand
and went down to consult him. Elisha at first bids Joram
go to the prophets of his father Ahab and his mother Jezebel ;
but at last for Jehoshaphat's sake he enquires of Jehovah,
and for reply bids them ' make the valley full of ditches/ for
without wind or rain it should be filled with water, and Moab
also should be delivered into their hands, and they 'should
smite every fenced city and every choice city, and fell every
good tree, and stop every well of water, and mar every good
piece of land with stones/ And lo ! in the morning there came
streams by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with
water ; and, when the Moabites saw it ruddy with the rays of
the rising sun, they thought it was blood. So, taking it for
granted that the three allied armies had smitten one another,
they rushed in full force to the spoil ; but, when they reached
the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote them,
and chased them into their own land, slaughtering without
mercy, beating down the cities, marring the land with stones,
stopping the wells, and felling the fruit-trees, till they drove
the king of Moab into a strong-hold where he maintained
himself, while the slingers went about and smote it. At last,
being hard pressed, he sallied out with seven hundred men and
tried to break through the besieging force, but failed ; where-
upon he ' took his eldest son that should have reigned in his
stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall,
jvi r And there was great indignation against [o r upon] Israel, and
they departed from him, and returned to their own land/

We have here a very different story from that recorded on
the Moabite Stone, and the question is, Can these two accounts
in any way be reconciled ? The contrast between them is
certainly as great as possible. In the one we have a simple,
unvarnished tale of struggles and conquests beginning with
the admission of Moab's long subjection and ending with its
liberation from the yoke of Israel, but all told in the most

THE MOABITE STONE. \ 361

natural manner, without the least sign of a desire to adorn the
narrative with fictitious or miraculous incidents : in the other
we have a series of incredible statements, beginning with an
annual tribute from Moab of 100,000 wethers and 100,000
rams, enormously out of proportion to the extent of the
country (about forty miles long by ten broad), and ending with
the Moabites mistaking the water in the morning sunlight for
blood, and hastily concluding that ' the kings are surely slain,
and they have smitten one another,' — as if, supposing some of
them for a moment to have been possessed by such a delusion,
it would not have been dispelled long before they reached
the Camp of Israel and fell helplessly into their enemies'
hands ! In short, the whole Hebrew story, as it now stands, is
a manifest fiction, apparently part of some legendary account
of Elisha's doings, which, like that about Elijah, Jeremiah 61
has adopted into his history of the kings, retouching it here
and there with his own hand.

But may this extravagant story after all have been based on
some real historical fact ? It has been suggested 61 that the
Scripture narrative has taken up the account of Mesha's ddings
just where the Moabite Stone has left it, each record having
suppressed altogether the facts which would have redounded
to the glory of the enemy, so that here we have only two parts
of the same campaign described from two opposite points of
view, like English and French accounts of the Battle of
Waterloo. Mesha, it is said, may have really freed his country
north of the Arnon, as stated on the Stone, during the short
reign of Ahaziah, Ahab's eldest son and successor ; M and then,
after his death, his successor Joram may have fortified Jahaz
south of the Arnon, as here mentioned, and tried to stem his
progress in that direction, but, finding him too strong, was
obliged to withdraw his force without a battle, or, as the

41 Sec Part VII for the proof that Jeremiah wrote the Books of Kings.
w G. p. 17-19. ** 1K.xxii.51, 2K.i.f.

362 THE MOABITE STONE.

Stone says, * Chemosh drave him out' But after this he may
have summoned his allies, as the Bible tells us, and, going
round by the south, may have utterly overthrown Mesha,
ravaging his land and shutting him up in his last fortified
place, from which he tried to break out, but failed, and then,
by the sacrifice of his son raised such a fury in his people that
they attacked and routed the Israelites, or, in the euphemistic
language of the Bible, 'there was great indignation against
Israel, and they departed from him and returned to their own
land/

This ingenious explanation may possibly be true. Yet,
Considering the fictitious character of most of the details of
the Hebrew story, this seems very doubtful in face of the fact
that not the slightest hint of Mesha's disasters, of his having
lost his towns and had his land ravaged, and been driven to
sacrifice his firstborn son, appears on the Stone. Perhaps the
notorious fact of Moab having thrown off under Mesha the yoke
of Israel alone gave rise to the Scripture story. In order to
account for the Israelites having permitted such a revolt, they
are here represented as having first by miraculous aid,
vouchsafed for the good Jehoshaphat's sake, chastised the
rebellious Moabites and reduced them to uttermost distress
and despair, and having then abandoned their conquest in
consternation and commiseration, as Josephus 54 and many com-
mentators explain it, at the horrible deed committed before
their eyes.

However this may be, it is plain that the Moabite Stone,
if even its contents can be reconciled at all with the Hebrew
story, lends no support whatever to the traditionary view as
to the Divine infallibility of the Bible, much less as to the
Mosaic origin and Divine authority of the Pentateuch, while
in various ways it indirectly confirms the views I have set
before you in these Lectures. For all this, however, the Bible,

* 4 Am.lXMl

THE MOABITE STONE. 363

relieved from a merely superstitious view of its character,
does not cease to be ' profitable for doctrine, reproof, correc-
tion, instruction in righteousness/ It still remains for us that
Book, which, whatever intermixture it may show of human
elements — of error, infirmity, passion, or ignorance — has yet
through God's gracious Providence and the working of the
Divine spirit on the minds of its writers, been the means of
revealing to us His True Name, the Name of the Living
God, and has all along been, and, as far as we know, will
never cease to be, the mightiest instrument in the hand of
the Divine Teacher for awakening in our minds just concep-
tions of His character and of His Goodness towards the
children of men.

»

I'

LECTURE XXVI.

. «

SUMMARY.

There will be no need in future to hold or teach that slavery is enjoined in
the Bible by Divine authority ; we are not surprised to find in it numerous
discrepancies, and very different readings in the Sam. and Sept. Versions, the
last of which is habitually quoted in the N.T., and comprised the Apocrypha,
of the O.T., as having like authority with the Canonical Books of the English
Bible ; in all State-aided schools the truths of Science must be taught, though
often at variance with Scripture ; fictions must not be imposed on ignorant
heathen 'in the name of the Lord,' nor miraculous stories be matched with
those of more civilised heathens ; a miracle would in our days be appalling,
as it would shake our whole faith in the orderly government of the Universe ;
since the popular notion of the Divine infallibility of the Bible is contradicted
by the plainest scientific conclusions, Biblical Criticism is a blessed gift,
which shows that such a notion is a mere delusion ; some great social
questions will now be treated on their own merits, without appealing to
supposed Divine dicta in respect of them, e.g., capital punishments, marriages
of affinity, the treatment of polygamist converts from heathenism, Sunday
observance ; when the L. L. is shown to be of post-Captivity origin, the
whole priestly system falls to the ground, and its complement, the ritualistic
system, with its doctrine of sacrifices ; Bishop Browne on dogmatic
teaching ; the power of the Cross lies not in dogma ; the life and death of
Jesus revealed the Father to men, as men must reveal the Father to each
other.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

SHALL now close this series of Lectures by
considering some of the more important conse-
quences which follow from the results which have
been set before you. That we shall be relieved in
future from the necessity of holding and teaching the re-
volting doctrine that the practice of slavery may be supported
by express Divine utterances, like that which permits a master
to flog his slave to death, provided he or she ' continue a day
or two, for he is his money/ * or that which bids a Hebrew slave
go out free at the end of six years' service, but leave behind
as slaves his wife and children, 2 or that which speaks of
' Jehovah's tribute ' of thirty-two female slaves, to be the
perquisite of the priests, 8 is obvious at once ; and the clergy of
all denominations will surely rejoice to have overwhelming
evidence laid before them that passages such as these form no
portion of that Divine Law, which they are bound to present
to their flocks as the Word of the Living God.

Moreover, we are now able to regard the numerous dis-
crepancies and contradictions, which a thoughtful student of
the Bible cannot fail to have 'noticed, perhaps with pain, in
different parts of it, as only the natural consequence of the

1 E.xxi. 20,21.

■ v. 4.

' N.xxxi.40.

m

9

r

•J 368 CONCLUDING REMARKS.

conditions under which it has been composed, by fallible men
like ourselves, however inspired with Divine Life, writing in
different ages and from very different points of view — not to
speak of the fact that the Greek Version and the Samaritan
Text give evidence of the existence of very ancient copies of
the Hebrew Scriptures, containing very considerable varia-
tions from the Hebrew Text, which in those days were
regarded as authoritative records of the Jewish Religion,
and as such are habitually quoted in the New Testament
Nay, the Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament were all
received by those ancient Alexandrian Jews as equally
1 canonical ' with the other Scriptures, as they are still by the
Roman Church and most of them by the Greek Church, and
were not very long ago by the Reformed Church of England. 4
Again, there are few intelligent Christians who have not of
themselves been brought to the conviction that the statements
of the Bible are frequently opposed to the plain conclusions
of Modern Science in almost every department, Geology,
Astronomy, Geography, History, Ethnology, Physiology,
Chemistry, &c. Must our children learn in the day-school
elementary truths, which will flatly contradict the teaching
of the Pulpit and the Sunday-School ? And must we not
expect that, as the result of such confusing lessons, they will
be in very great danger of parting with religion itself, and
making shipwreck of faith altogether ? Or shall we be justi-
fied in supporting schools where, in the vain hope of avoiding
or at least staving off this danger, under the anxious care of
religious bodies, Church of England or otherwise, ' lies ' shall
be habitually ' taught in the name of the Lord/ 6 on matters
which concern their moral growth and intellectual develop-
*« ment and their best interests as social beings ?

And the heathen, to whom we send our Missionaries — who
are not yet drugged with the results of past centuries of

{; * P-3*9. • Zech.xiii.3.

1 1

f

CONCLUDING REMARKS. .369

dogmatic teaching, but are ready to open their hearts to us,
and receive as messages from a higher sphere the word which
we bring to them, — what right have we to begin our work
among them by laying down a basis of falsehood, and, while
professing to be servants of the God of Truth, with our own
eyes already in some measure opened to the light, to insist
on loading their minds with superstitions, preparing thus a
future harvest — here also, as elsewhere — of miserable doubt
or irremediable unbelief? Can we expect any blessing from
above on such proceedings ?

Or, in the case of more highly civilised heathens, must we
attempt to rival them in quoting one miracle after another, a
belief in which is to be regarded as an essential part of
Christian Faith? — when to us, grx>wn up and nurtured amongst
the secrets of Nature, now revealed, with our extended know-
ledge of the laws, the order, of this wondrous universe, so
manifold, so diverse, yet all tending to unity, to one great
central Cause, a miracle, if really witnessed, would be like a
jarring discord in the midst of a mighty music — not a sign of
the master-musician's presence, but a token that for once he
had failed to subdue the rebellious elements — would, in short,
be simply frightfuL Must we really give up all faith in our
Father in Heaven, 'all our dearest hopes and consolations,' —
must we turn a deaf ear to the Divine Teachings of the Son
of Man, the way to the Father, the truth and the life — are all
those words of power to become unmeaning, to lose their
sense for us, now that the light of science or critical research
compels us to give up the setting of the jewel, the antique
moulding, peculiar and suitable to the times in which it was
cast, which has surrounded the pearl of great price for so
many centuries ?

Shall we not rather bless God devoutly that in this our
wondrous mother-age He has awakened among us the gift of
critical Science, as well as the rest— so that, whereas in

B B

370 CONCLUDING REMARKS.

i former days, when comparatively little was known about the

universe, it was possible by a few adroit words to silence
enquiry about the meaning of the first chapters of Genesis,
and so little harm was done comparatively by those appear-
ances of conflict between Scripture and Science which were

, even then observed by a few, now, however, when the light

) " shines roundabout us and penetrates every corner, the results

of Modern Biblical Criticism come to relieve us from the
miserable necessity of choosing between the Book of Nature
and the Book of God, and we are able to receive joyfully
illumination from whatever source it reaches us, from the

* Bible and from the Church, as also from the rich.outflowings

of Literature and Science, with which the ' Father of Lights '
has blessed us in this our day ? Shall we not be thankful

\ that the idol, which tradition had set up by its notion of

Infallible Inspiration, is for ever upset and annihilated, like the

5 brazen serpent, which the Israelites worshipped in blind

superstition as the work of Moses in the wilderness, but which

Hezekiah broke in pieces and ' called it ' Nehushtan — a piece

of brass ' ? 6 That notion of Scripture Infallibility is clearly

, seen to be a mere human invention and absolutely false.

There is no infallible Book for our guidance, as there is no

t infallible Church or infallible Man. The Father of spirits has

not willed it thus, who knows best what is needed for the

« training of each individual soul, as well as for the education

I of the race. But He gives us light enough upon our path that

we may rejoice before Him and do our work faithfully day by

day, and fear no evil here or hereafter. And the pure and

. loving in heart and true in life will see God face to face in

many a passage of the Sacred Book — will recognize the

Divine revealing Itself in the Human in all that is good

throughout it from beginning to end— will hear God's voice

\ 4

;]

2K.xviii.4.

CONCLUDING REMARKS. yj\

in it speaking to the soul, through the ministry of frail and
faulty fellow-men, of like passions as we are and subject to
like infirmities — will feel His Living Word come home to the
heart, and that it must be obeyed

Again, some questions of great public importance will now
be relieved from the incubus which has hitherto weighed down
the discussion of them through the notion that there were
religious difficulties in the way, that the Divine Voice had
uttered an authoritative dictum, which must either preclude
any free discussion, or else must be explained away, before
such subjects could be discussed at all. It will probably be
no longer urged, as it has been in former days, that all wilful
heretics and obstinate unbelievers should be destroyed, as
Jehovah commanded the Canaanites to be, 7 that all wizards
and witches should be put to death, 8 or that a stubborn son
should be brought out by his father and mother, c and all the
men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die.' 9 Yet
capital punishments are still maintained in the case of
murderers upon the notion that the words in Genesis, ' Whoso
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed/ 10 were
really uttered by Almighty Wisdom, instead of their merely
expressing the views of a pious Hebrew of old, or perhaps
recording the actual practice of an age, when Samuel ' hewed
Agag to pieces before Jehovah/ 11 and David sawed asunder,
harrowed, chopped in pieces, and burnt, his Ammonite
captives l9 — acts which can hardly be regarded as models for
Christian times.

Further, the question of marriages of affinity is complicated
in the minds of many with the consideration of a certain law
in Leviticus 1 * — which appears, however, only to forbid a man
marrying his wife's sister while the wife herself is living, -as
if it had Divine authority, and was anything more than a rule

7 D.vii.2,xx. 16,17. • E.xxii.i8,L.xx.27. • D.xxi.iS-21.

»• G.ix.6. » iS.xv.33. « 2S.xii.31. » L.xviii.18.

B B 2

372 CONCLUDING REMARKS.

: \ existing among the polygamist Jews at the time of the

i Captivity ; though it did not prevent a writer in David's age

u from representing their forefather Jacob as having married two

sisters at once. And so, too, the question of the proper mode
' of dealing with polygamist converts from heathenism has been

considered not only under the influence of that strong feeling
> of monogamy which has characterised the Teutonic race from

the earliest times, 14 and of that still higher feeling which springs
■ from appreciating the true place of woman under the teach-

ing of Christianity, but under the notion that to suffer a native
convert \p remain in the state in which the Word of God had

* found him, though with more than one wife, is opposed to the
Great Marriage Law of Paradise, 16 as if this were an infallible
Divine command, which must be enforced at all sacrifices, and
at the cost of that sense of justice and tenderness towards

' I wives and children, which is of the very essence of Christianity

* — though such a command must appear to them in puzzling
' | contradiction to the conduct of Abraham the ' father of the
»* faithful ' and David the ' man after God's own heart/ if the
t .j facts of their histories are honestly brought before them as
,. ! recorded in the Bible.

'J It may be that these and other like questions will in future

>{\ be treated purely on their own merits as civil and social

questions, without appealing to supposed religious sanctions
j of the most stringent kind, which are now shown to be of no

! authority whatever. Of the same nature, but frequently far

more serious, is the evil caused by the solemn recitation of the

i Ten Commandments, with their Sabbath-law, as words uttered

i by the Divine Voice ; whereas, as we have seen, 16 they are

only a summary by a later Jewish prophet of what he deemed
j. the most essential things to be observed in Israel, departing,

however, in respect of the Sabbath from the older custom,

j u Tac. Germ.xvm. » G.ii.24. »• p .i 3 8

t

i

I I

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 373

which made the New Moon of more importance than ordinary
Sabbaths, as the first Sabbath of the month, which regulated
the rest, and was therefore honoured with far larger sacri-
fices. 17

But, perhaps, the most important effect of the criticism of
the Pentateuch is this, to strike a death-blow at the whole
sacerdotal system, which mainly rests on the supposition that
the Levitical Laws in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, and
Numbers are really of Mosaic or, rather, of Divine origin. We
have seen that these are all without exception the product of
a very late age, during or after the Captivity, 18 and for the
most part express merely the hopes and ambitious pretensions
of the very numerous body of priests, lording it over the con-
sciences of the comparatively small number of devoted laity,
who returned from the Captivity to Jerusalem, 19 and make
the position of the priest, his rank and power, his action and
influence, of supreme importance to the whole community.
We have seen what a plentiful provision is made for their
support 80 — how strong a line of separation is drawn not only
between the clergy and the laity, but even between the priests
and the Levites, 81 of which no sign appears before the
Captivity, when the very name * sons of Aaron ' was utterly
unknown, which replaces EzekiePs ' sons of Zadok ' w through-
out the Levitical Legislation and the Chronicler's writings, 28
but occurs nowhere else in the whole of the Old Testament,
except in a few of the later Psalms 84 — and how in the Books
of Chronicles, the fitting pendant to these priestly laws, the
priests and the Levites are perpetually brought upon the
stage, with almost ludicrous eagerness. 86 We have seen also
that this sacerdotal yoke was fastened upon the necks of the
people at a time when the prophet's voice was rarely heard to

17 p. 175- »• p. 192-4. » p.257,330.

» p. 221. « p. 190,337. " p. 194,25$.

" p. 205-8. « p. 349. * P- 337-4o.

374 CONCLUDING REMARKS.

disturb their self-complacent slumbers, 96 until true spiritual
life became at last deadened in them, and so, when the Great
Prophet came, they blinded their eyes and stopped their ears,
that the Truth might not reach them, and the multitude urged
♦ on by the priests cried ' Crucify him ! Crucify him ! / and

1 ' the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed.' **

, But with the priesthood comes also to the ground the whole

>. ritualistic system, with its multitude of sacrifices expressly

contrived, not merely for the relief of the burdened conscience
of the sinner, but for the benefit of the priest How, indeed,
could these narrow priestly notions set forth in any way the
i, sacrifice of Christ, that living sacrifice of loving obedience,

faithful unto death, the death of the cross, amidst seemingly
blighted hopes and' disappointed efforts and the bitterest con-
tempt and hatred in return for lifelong labours of self-sacrific-
1 [ ing love — the sacrifice which Jesus offered in his life and death,

,« ] and which in their measure all his true followers must be ready

<;, i . to offer also, as parts of that ' daily sacrifice ' to be presented

4 J by the 'Israel of God/ the good and true of all ages and

'** j climes and under all religions, the savour of which mounts up

* | to Heaven as holy incense, and helps to keep the whole world

sweet !

Lastly, the time is surely come when in all State-assisted
schools children shall be supplied with instruction in full
agreement with the advanced knowledge of the times, without
having their intellects and their hearts and consciences stunted
and deformed by the cramping effects of dogmatic teaching.
A Bishop of the Church of England has lately said, speaking
on behalf of the National-School system, 'We have not
troubled their little brains, as some people seem to think, with
all kinds of dogmatic theology ; though by the bye I don't
think people know what dogmatic theology means. The fact

-' p.2io. *' Luke xxiii.23.

i

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 375

that there is a God is dogmatic theology. The fact that there
is a heaven, a- hell, that our Saviour came down to save us,
that is dogmatic theology. Of course, in that way we have
taught them dogmatic theology.' 28 These little ones, then,
are taught about ' hell ' — that is to say, not about death and
the grave, which are facts before their eyes continually, or
about a righteous judgment for faults committed against the
better knowledge which they possess, to which even the con-
science of a child will bear witness — but about the everlasting
torments of hell-fire, that revolting and blasphemous dogma,
which dooms to never-ending woe the vast majority of human
beings, of men, women, and children with whom they meet
upon their daily pathway — which makes the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, ' the Father of mercies and the God
of all consolation/ into a very Moloch, reigning upon a throne
of glory, while shrieks and groans are ever resounding from
the bottomless abyss, and, as some teach, 29 the cries of little
innocent unbaptized babes among the rest — ' and the smoke
of their torments goes up for ever and ever ' !

No ! the fact that there is a God is not dogmatic theology,
except for those who are subjected to such teaching as this.
It may be made so, of course, if men will seek to commend
belief in this fact, by denouncing the terrors of ' hell ' against
all who refuse to believe it, or by holding out the joys of
' heaven ' as a reward for those who are willing to receive it
But it need not be so, and it should not be so, when a Chris-
tian Teacher is seeking to carry home that truth to the heart,
for instance, of a little child or of an ignorant heathen.
Rather he will feel within himself, what is ready to be
awakened in every intelligent human being, the sense of a
Mighty Presence about us which cannot be put by, the sense
of dependence upon an Unseen Father and Friend, a longing

28 Bishop (Browne) of Ely, (Guardian, Nov. 14, 1870).
" See Natal Strtnons, First Scries, p. 1 30-4.

376 CONCLUDING REMARKS.

desire to find Him who ' is not far from any one of us,' in

whom we 'live and move and have our being/ It is no

' dogmatic teaching ' to say that in the light of that Presence,

in the conscious enjoyment of it, must be Heaven, the life and

blessedness of the creature, or that in the loss of that light, the

conscious sense of the Divine displeasure, must be the very

sum of wretchedness, more awful than any physical pain or

contact with devils, or all the machinery of the popular ' hell.'

To teach that Jesus is the Saviour of men is not to lay down

a number of tenets respecting his person and nature, as taught

by 'dogmatic theologians' and enforced in the so-called

Athanasian Creed. We need not require on pain of perdition

a belief in miracles, whether those of the Pentateuch or those

which the Gospels represent as specially endorsing the

mission of Jesus to mankind, whose doings, however, we now

see but indistinctly through the mist of those many years

which had elapsed between the time when Jesus lived on earth

and the time when those narratives were written. It does not

seem that those ' mighty works'- produced any permanent

effect on the men of that age. Where were the multitudes

that saw those wonders, that were healed themselves or had

their dear ones healed, — the five thousand that were fed with

five loaves or the four thousand with seven, — when ' all his

disciples forsook him and fled,' or when a few dejected

followers and a few trembling broken-hearted women stood

or sat down beneath his bloody Cross ?

Ah ! but from that Cross has gone forth a power to subdue
and to regenerate the world. God's strength was made
perfect in that weakness. The sight of love so pure, so
patient, so tried with suffering, so triumphant in death, has
given us such a glimpse of the Divine Love, with which the
whole soul of Jesus was filled, as had never been revealed to
man before. It was the Love of God which poured itself out
in the life and death of Jesus upon all the sorrowful and

CONCLUDING REMARKS. 377

sinstricken, the waifs and strays of humanity, the prodigal and
the outcast, the publican and the sinner, as well as upon the
best and noblest of our race. It is the Love of God also
which is manifested even now in their lives and deaths, in
those of all his true followers, the faithful and good of all ages.
This teaching is simple enough, and brings its own evidence
to the soul. There is no need to enforce it by damnatory
clauses and the threat of hell-fire. When once this idea has
fully possessed us — when once we hear the Divine Voice
saying to us by the lips of Jesus, not ' Blessed are those who
keep undefiled all the articles of this creed,' but ' Blessed are
the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers,
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness/ — when once
we realize that God Himself is speaking to us by every word
or act of truth and goodness which His Spirit helps us, as His
own dear children, to put forth in daily intercourse one with
another, revealing thereby, each in his measure, even as
Jesus did, the Father to men— *it is all clear as day to us, it is
as if our eyes were opened, as if, having been born blind, we
are able now to see of ourselves that the whole world — in
spite of all seeming contradictions — is full of the Glory and
Goodness of God.

•^6^

'*

E

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX I.
THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

N.B. — The sign | denotes that here an interpolation occurs in the present
Book of Genesis.

GENESIS.

These are the generation! of the Heaven and the Earth in the day of their
being created.*

X. iln^he beginning of EL0HDT8 creating the Heaven and the Earth,
* when the Earth waa waste and void, and darkness upon the faee of the
deep, and the spirit of ELOHIM hovering upon the faee of the waters, 8 then
ELOHIM said, < Let there be light,' and there was light. * And ELOHIM saw
the light that it was good, and ELOHIM divided between the light and the
darkness. And ELOHIM called the light < Day,' and the darkness He called
' Eight. 9 And it was evening and it was morning— one day.

6 And ELOHIM said, « Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,
and let it be dividing between waters and waters.' * And ELOHIM made the
expanse, and divided between the waters which were under the expanse and
the waters which were above the expanse ; and it was so. 8 And ELOHIM
called the expanse * Heaven.' And it was evening and it was morning— a
second day.

• And ELOHIM said, ' Let the waters under the Heaven be gathered unto
one place, and let the dry land appear ' ; and it was so. 10 And ELOHIM

* These words, which now appear in G.ii.4a, seem to have formed a part
originally of the Elohistic Narrative, having been prefixed as a heading to the
account of the Creation in G.i, as in other similar instances in that narrative,
G.v.i, vi.9, xi. 10,27, xxv. 12, 19, xxxvi.1,9, xxxvii.2a.

382 THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

called the dry land < Earth,' and the gathering of waters called He * Seaa ' ;
and ELOHIM saw that it was good. "And ELOHIM said, 'Let the Earth
vegetate vegetation, the herb seeding seed, the fruit-tree making fruit after
its kind, whose seed is in it, upon the Earth ' ; and it was so. ia And the
Earth brought-forth vegetation, the herb seeding seed after its kind, and the
tree making fruit, whose seed is in it, after its kind ; and ELOHIM saw that
it loos good. 18 And it was evening and it was morning— a third day.

14 And ELOHIM sa\d, 'Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the
Heaven, to divide between the day and the night, and let them be for signs,
and for seasons, and for days and years; "and let them be for luminaries in
the expanse of Heaven, to give light upon the Earth ' ; and it was so. *«And
ELOHIK made the two great luminaries,— the greater luminary for the rule
of the day, and the lesser luminary for the rule of the night,— and the stars.
17 And ELOHIM put them in the expanse of the Heaven, to give light upon
the Earth; "and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
between the light and the darkness ; and ELOHIM saw that it was good,
is And it was evening and it was morning— a fourth day.

so And ELOHIM said, 'Let the waters swarm with •warming-things of
living soul, and let fowl fly over the Earth upon the face of the expanse of
the Heaven/ » And ELOHIM created the great monsters, and every living
soul that moveth, which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every
fowl of wing after its kind ; and ELOHIM saw that it was good. ** And ELO-
HIM blessed them, saying, ' Be fruitful and multiply, and All the waters in
the Seas, and let fowl abound in the Earth. « And it was evening and it
was morning — a fifth day.

m And ELOHIM said, « Let the Earth bring-forth living soul after its kind,
cattle, and moving thing, and living-thing of the Earth after its kind ' ; and
it was so. ** And ELOHIM made the living-thing of the Earth after its kind,
and the cattle after its kind, and every moving-thing of the ground after its
kind; and ELOHIM saw that it was good. M And ELOHIM said, 'Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness ; and let them have-dominion over
the fish of the Sea, and over the fowl of the Heaven, and over the cattle, and
over every living-thing of the Earth, and over every moving-thing that
moveth upon the Earth.' *? And ELOHIM created man in His image ; in the
image of ELOHIM created He him; male and female created He them,
w And ELOHIM blessed them, and ELOHIM said to them, ' Be fruitful and
multiply, and fill the Earth, and subdue it ; and have-dominion over the fish
of the Sea, and over the fowl of the Heaven, and over every living-thing that
moveth upon the Earth.' "And ELOHIM said, « Lo ! I give you every herb
seeding seed, which is on the face of all the Earth, and every tree in which
is the fruit of a tree seeding seed ; to you it shall be for food : ^ and to every
living-thing of the Earth, in which is a living soul, / give every green herb
for,food ' ; and it was so. & 1 And ELOHIM saw all that He had made, and lo !
it was very good. And it was evening and it was morning— a sixth day.

XX. lAnd the Heaven and the Earth were finished, and all their host,
s And ELOHIM finished on the seventh day His work which He had made,

7

THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE. 383

and retted on the seventh day from all Hie work which He had made. * And
ELOHIH blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; for on it He rested from
all His work which ELOHIH created and made. J

V. 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam in the day of ELOHIH' 8
creating Adam ; in the likeness of ELOHIH made He him. * Hale and female
created He them and blessed them, and He called their name Adam in the
day of their being created.

3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat in his likeness,
according to his image; and he called his name Beth. *And the days of
Adam, after his begetting Seth, were eight hundred years, and he begat sons
and daughters. • And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hun-
dred and thirty years, and he died.

8 And Seth lived a hundred and Ave years, and begat Enos. 1 And Seth
lived, after his begetting Enos, eight hundred and seven years, and begat
sons and daughters. 8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve
years, and he died.

And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Kenan. 10 And Enos lived, after
his begetting Kenan, eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and
daughters. u And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years,
and he died.

12 And Kenan lived seventy years, and begat Hahalaleel. is And Kenan
lived, after his begetting Hahalaleel, eight hundred and forty years, and
begat sons and daughters. 1* And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred
and ten years, and he died.

i« And Hahalaleel lived sixty-and-flve years, and begat Jared. ie And Ha-
halaleel lived, after his begetting Jared, eight hundred and thirty years,
and begat sons and daughters. "And all the days of Hahalaleel were
eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

is And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begat Enoch.
10 And Jared lived, after his begetting Enoch, eight hundred years, and
begat sons and daughters. *> And all the days of Jared were nine hundred
and sixty-two years, and he died.

oi And Enoch lived sixty-and-flve years, and begat Hethuselah. M And
Enoch walked with ELOHIH, after his begetting Hethuselah, three hundred
years, and begat sons and daughters. **And all the days of Enoch were
three hundred and sixty-five years. **And Enoch walked with ELOHIH,
and he was not, for ELOHIH took him.

«6 And Hethuselah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begat
Lantech. M And Hethuselah lived, after his begetting Lantech, seven hundred
and eighty-two years, and begat sons and daughters. *? And all the days of
Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

as And Lamech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begat [Hoah,
p. 35]. (I so And Lamech lived, after his begetting Hoah, five hundred and
ninety-five years, and begat sons and daughters, si And all the days of
Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

I

384 THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

88 And Hoah was five hundred years old, and Hoah begat Shorn, Ham, an<
Japheth.)

VI. • These are the generations of Hoah.

Hoah was a man just and perfect in his generations : Hoah walked witl
ELOHIX. 10 And Hoah bogat three sons, Stem, Ham, and Japheth. u And
the Earth had become-eorrupt before ELOHIX, and the Earth was filled with
j violence. "And ELOHIX saw the Earth, and lo! it had become-eorrupt ;

for all flesh had eorrnpted its way upon the Earth.

is And ELOHIX said to Hoah, * The end of all flesh has eome before Xe, for
the Earth is fall of violence because of them ; and lo ! I will destroy them
with the Earth. M Xake thee an Ark of cypress- wood ; with cells shalt thou
make the Ark, and shalt piteh it within and without with pitch. \ " And I, lo !
am bringing the Flood of waters upon the Earth, to destroy all flesh in which is
a living spirit from under the Heaven ; all which is in the Earth shall die.
18 But I establish Xy covenant with thee ; and thou shalt go into the Ark,
thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee. 10 And out of
every living-thing out of all flesh, two out of all shalt thou bring into the
Ark, te keep-alive with thee ; male and female shall they be. *> Out of the
fowl after its kind, and out of the cattle after its kind, out of every moving-
thing of the ground after its kind, two out of all shall come unto thee, to
keep-alive. ** And thou — take thee out of all food which is eaten, and thou
shalt gather it unto thee, and it shall be to thee and to them for food.' M And
Hoah did according to all which ELOHIX commanded him, so did he.)

VXX. • And Hoah was six hundred years old when the Flood of waters was
upon the Earth. 1 And Hoah went, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons'
wives with him, into the Ark, bocause of the waters of the Flood. 8 Out of
the clean cattle and out of the cattle which are not clean, and out of the fowl
and all that moveth upon the ground, »two and two, they came unto Hoah
into the Ark, male and female, as ELOHIX commanded Hoah.||

11 In the six-hundredth year of Hoah's life, in the seeond month, in the
seventeenth day of the month, on this day were broken up all the fountains
of the great deep, and the windows of the Heaven were opened. || 13 On this
very day went Hoah, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, Hoah's sons, and
Hoah's wife, and his sons' three wives with them, into the Ark; 14 they, and
every living-thing after its kind, and all the cattle after its kind, and every
moving-thing that moveth upon the Earth after its kind, and all the fowl
after its kind, every fowl of every wing. m And they came unto Hoah into the
Ark, two and two, out of all flesh in which is a living spirit. i** And those
coming, male and female out of all flesh they came, as ELOHIM commanded him. |

ia» And the waters were mighty, and multiplied greatly upon the Earth, |
19 b and all the high mountains that were under all the Heaven were covered.)
81 And all flesh died that moved upon the Earth, fowl and cattle and living-
thing and all the •warming-things that swarm upon the Earth, and all man.
88 All in whose nostrils was the breath of a living spirit, out of all which was
in the dry land, died.) as* And only Hoah was left and what was with Mm

THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE. 385

in the Ark. ** And the waters were mighty upon the Earth a hundred and
fifty days. ||

vxii. 1 And ELOHIM remembered Noah and every living-thing and all
the cattle that was with him in the Ark ; and ELOHIM caused-to-pass-over
a wind upon the Earth, and the waters subsided. ** And the fountains of the
deep were stopped and the windows of the Heaven; || 8b and the waters de-
creased at the end of a hundred and fifty days,|| 4b in the seventh month, in
the seventeenth day of the month. || 6 And the waters were decreasing con-
tinually until the tenth month : in the tenth month, in the first of the month,
the tops of the mountains were seen.|| 18 *And it came to pass in the six
hundred and first year, in the first month, in the first of the month, that the
waters were dried-up from off the Earth : || 14 and in the second month, in the
seventeenth day of the month, the Earth was dry.

is And ELOHIM spake unto Hoah, saying, ie * Go-forth out of the Ark, thou,
and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons* wives with thee. 17 Every living-
thing that is with thee out of all flesh, fowl, and cattle, and every moving-
thing that moveth upon the Earth, bring-forth with thee; and let them swarm
in the Earth, and be fruitful and multiply upon the Earth.' u And Noah
went-forth, and his sons, and his wife, and Lis sons' wives with him.
10 Every living-thing, every moving-thing, and every fowl, everything
moving upon the Earth— after their families they went-forth out of the Ark.||

IX. iAnd ELOHIM blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, «Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth. a And the fear of you and the dread
of you shall be upon every living thing of the Earth, and upon every fowl of
the Heaven, upon all that moveth upon the ground, and upon all the fishes
of the Sea ; into your hand they are given. 8 Every moving-thing that
liveth, to you it shall be for food: as the green herb I give to you all. 4 Only
flesh with its soul, its blood, ye shall not eat. 5 And surely your blood of
your souls will I require ; from the hand of every living-thing will I require
it, and from the hand of man; from the hand of a man's brother will I require
the soul of man. e Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be
shed : for in the image of ELOHIM made He man. 1 And you, be fruitful and
multiply, swarm in the Earth and multiply in it.'

8 And ELOHIM said unto Noah and unto bis sons with him, saying, ° • And
I, lo ! I will establish My covenant with you and with your seed after you,
10 and with every living soul which is with you, fowl and cattle and every
living-thing of the Earth with you, from all going-forth out of the Ark to
every living-thing of the Earth. ll And I establish My covenant with you,
and all flesh shall not be again cut off through, the waters of the Flood, and
there shall not be again a Flood to destroy the Earth.'

is And ELOHIM said, ' This is the sign of the Covenant which I will put
between Me and you and every living soul that is with you, for perpetual
generations, is My bow do I put in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a
Covenant between Me and the Earth. 1* And it shall be, at My bringing-a-
oloud upon the Earth, when the bow shall appear in the cloud, 15 then I will
remember My Covenant which is between Me and you and every living soul

CC

I

»

386 THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

among all flesh ; and the waters shall not become again a Flood to destroy
all flesh. ie And, when the bow shall be in the cloud, then I will see it, to
remember the perpetual Covenant between ELOHIM and every living eon
among all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And ELOHIM said unto Noah
1 This is the sign of the Covenant whioh I establish between Me and all flee!
that is upon the Earth.' |

98 And Noah lived after the Flood three hundred and fifty years, so Anc
all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.fl

XX. 10 These are the generations of Shem.

Shorn was a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after th<
Flood. n And Shem lived, after his begetting Arphaxad, five hundred years,
and begat sons and daughters.

i*And Arphaxad lived five-and-thirty years, and begat Solan. ** And
* J Arphaxad lived, after his begetting Salah, four hundred and three years, and

begat sons and daughters.

" And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Heber. " And Salah lived, after
his begetting Heber, four hundred and three years, and begat sons and
daughters.

*• And Heber lived four-and-thirty years, and begat Peleg. "And Heber
lived, after his begetting Peleg, four hundred and thirty years, and begat
sons and daughters.

is And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Beu. » And Peleg lived, after
bis begetting Beu, two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

90 And Beu lived two-and-thirty years, and begat Serug. u A&d Beu
lived, after bis begetting Serug, two hundred and seven years, and begat
sons and daughters.

ss And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor. "And Serug lived,
after his begetting Nahor, two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

»* And Nahor lived nine-and-twenty years, and begat Terah. ** And Manor
lived, after his begetting Terah, a hundred and nineteen years, and begat
sons and daughters.

96 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

87 And these are the generations of Terah.

Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran ; and Haran begat Lot || a& And
Terah took Abram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son's son, and 8arai
his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and they went-forth with
them together out of Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan, and they
went as far as Charran and dwelt there. "And the days of Terah were two
hundred and five years, and Terah died in Charran. ||

XXX. * b And Abram was seventy-five years old at his going-forth out of
Charran. * And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all
their gain whioh they had gotten, and the souls which they had made in
Charran, and they went-forth to go to the land of Canaan, and they oame to
the land of Canaan. |) XXXX. *And the land did not bear them to dwell to-

THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE. 387

gether ; for their gain was much, and they were not able to dwell together. ||
13 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the
circuit. ||

XVI. 1 Wow Sarai, Ab ram's wife, bare not to him, and she had a maid, an
Egyptian, and her name was Hagar. || 9 And Sarai, Abram* s wife, took Hagar
the Egyptian, her maid, at the end of ten years of Abram* s dwelling in the
land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to him for wife. || u And
Hagar bare to Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, which
Hagar bare, Ishmael. ie And Abram was eighty-and-six years old at Hagar' ■
bearing Ishmael to Abram. ||

XVZZ. 1 And Abram was ninety-and-nine years old, and JEHOVAH * ap-
peared unto Abram and said unto him, ' I am EL-SHADDAI: walk before Me,
and be thou perfect. s And I will put my Covenant between Me and thee,
and I will very greatly multiply thee.'

9 And Abram fell upon his face, and ELOHIM spake with him saying,
* < I— lo ! My Covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of a multitude
of nations. * And thy name shall not be called any longer Abram, but thy
name shall be Abraham ; for I put thee as a father of a multitude of nations.
6 And I will make thee very fruitful and will put thee for nations, and kings
shall go-forth out of thee. 1 And I will establish My Covenant between Me
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for a perpetual Cove-
nant, to be to thee ELOHIM and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give to
thee and to thy seed after thee the land of thy sojournings, the whole land
of Canaan, for a perpetual possession, and I will be to them ELOHIM. 1

9 And ELOHIM said unto Abram, * And thou— My Covenant shalt thou
. keep, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10 This is My Cove-
nant which they shall keep between Me and you and thy seed after thee — to
be circumcised among you every male. n And ye shall circumcise the flesh
of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of a Covenant between Me and
you. u And every male in your generations, eight days old, shall be circum-
cised among you — child of the house, and purchase of silver from any son of

* This is the only instance where, in the present Hebrew copies of the Bible,
'Jehovah' occurs in the whole Elohistic Narrative before the revelation in
E.vi.2-5. The proper formula of the Elohist is seen in G.xxxv.9. 'And
Elohim appeared unto Jacob,' identical with that before us, except in respect of
the Divine Name. Since, therefore, ' Elohim ' is used everywhere else (87 times)
in the Elohistic Narrative and ten times in this very chapter, it seems very pro-
bable that it stood originally in v.i, and has been accidentally changed to
• Jehovah ' — perhaps by an oversight of some copyist In fact, the ' Elohim '
of v. 3 apparently presupposes • Elohim ' also in v.i.

It is not necessary \ however, to suppose such an error in copying ; since the
Elohist himself knew and used the name Jehovah, as appears from E.vi.2-5, and
therefore may have inadvertently employed it here in his history, 'Jehovah
appeared unto Abram,' though he does not place it in the mouth of the Deity, ' I
am Jehovah,' or of any other speaker before the revelation to Moses.

388 THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

the stranger, which is not of thy seed. ** Circumcised shall ha surely be
child of thy house and purchase of thy silver ; and My Covenant shall be ii
your flesh for a perpetual Covenant. 14 And an uncircumoised male, wheel
flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be out off from bii
people ; he hath broken My Covenant/

16 And ELOHIM said unto Abraham, * Sarai thy wife— thou shalt not eal
her name Sarai; for Sarah is her name. ie And I will bless her, and also 1
will give to thee out of her a ton, and I will bless her, and she shall become
nations, kings of peoples shall be out of her. f ||*

18 And Abraham said unto ELOHIM, * Would that Ishmael may live befon
Thee ! ' " And ELOHIM said, ' Truly Sarah thy wife shall bear to thee i
son, and thou shalt call his name Isaao ; and I will establish X y Covenant
with him for a perpetual Covenant to his seed after him. *>And as foi
Ishmael, I have heard thee. Lo! I bless him and make him fruitful sod
multiply him exceedingly ; twelve princes shall he beget, and I give him foi
a great nation. ** But My Covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah
shall bear to thee at this season in the following year.' "And ELOHIM
finished to speak with him, and ELOHIM went-up from Abraham.

« And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all the children of his house,
and all the purchase of his silver, every male among the men of Abraham's
house; and he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin on that very day, as
ELOHIM had spoken to him. M And Abraham was ninety-and-nine years old
at his being circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ** And Ishmael his son
was thirteen years old at his being circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
90 On that very day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. *? And
all the men of his house, child of the house and purchase of silver from the
son of a stranger, were circumcised with him.||

XIX. "And it oame to pass, at ELOHIM* 8 destroying the cities of the
circuit, then ELOHIM remembered Abraham, and He sent forth Lot out of
the midst of the overthrow at His overthrowing the cities in which Lot dwelt. |

XXZZ. s And Sarah conoeived and bare a son to his old-age, according* to
the season which ELOHIM had spoken of with him. 8 And Abraham called
the name of his son that was born to him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaao, eight days old, as ELOHIM had
commanded him. * And Abraham was a hundred years old at Isaac his son's
being born tohim.||

XXIXX. *And the life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty and seven
years, the years of the life of Sarah. s And Sarah died in Kirjath-Arba| in
the land of Canaan ; and Abraham came to mourn over Sarah and to weep for
her. 8 And Abraham arose from before his dead, and spake unto the sons ol
Heth, saying, 4 * A sojourner and dweller am I with you : give me a posses-
sion of a burial-place with you, and I will bury my dead from before me/

* v. 1 7 seems to be interpolated, since Abraham has already • fallen upon his
face ' in ^.3, and the phrase * say in his heart ' is used in xxvii.4l(J), and nowhere
else in the Pentateuch.

THE EL0HIST1C NARRATIVE. 389

• And the ions of Heth answered Abraham, laying, * Pray hear us, my lord :
A prince of ELOHIM art thou in the midst of us : in the ohoioe of our burial-
places bury thy dead : no man of us will hold-back hie burial-place from thee,
that thou shouldit not bury thy dead.' 1 And Abraham arose and bowed-
himself before the people of the land, to the sons of Heth. 8 And he spake
with them, saying, • If it is your (soul) pleasure for me to bury my dead from
before me, hear me and entreat for me to Ephron son of Zohar, ° that he may
give me the cave of Machpelah which is his, which is in the extremity of
his field : for full silver shall he give it me in the midst of you for a posses-
sion of a burial-place.' 10 Wow Ephron was dwelling in the midst of the sons
of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the ears of the sons
of Heth, before all entering at the gate of his city, saying, u ' Hay, my loid !
hear me : the field I give thee, and the oave which is in it, to thee I give it :
in the presence of the sons of my people I give it thee: bury thy dead.'
19 And Abraham bowed-himself before the people of the land. 18 And he
spake to Ephron in the ears of the people of the land, saying, * If thou art
indeed for giving it y pray hear me: I give the silver of the field 1 take it from
me, that I may bury my dead there.' 14 And Ephron answered Abraham,
saying, ** ' Pray, my lord ! hear me : the land is four hundred shekels of
silver: between me and thee what is that? so bury thy dead.' ie And Abraham
hearkened unto Ephron ; and Abraham weighed for Ephron the silver which
he spake in the ears of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver,
current with the trader. 17 And the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah,
which was (before) east of Mamre, the field, and the cave that was in it, and
all the trees that were in the field, that were in all its border roundabout,
stood w to Abraham for a purchase in the presence of the sons of Heth, among
all entering at the gate of his city. I9 And afterwards Abraham buried Sarah
his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah eastward of Mamre | in the land
of Canaan. *> And the field, and the cave that was in it, stood to Abraham
for a possession of a burial-place from the sons of Heth.||

XXV. 7 And these are the days of the years of the life of Abraham which
he lived, a hundred and seventy-and-flve years. 8 And Abraham gave-up-the-
ghost, and died in good grey hairs, old and full of years, and was gathered
unto his people. ° And Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave
of Maohpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, which vxu east-
ward of Mamre, 10 the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth :
there was buried Abraham and Sarah his wife.|

12 And these are the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom
Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's maid, bare to Abraham.

18 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according
to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Hebaioth, and Kedar, and
Adbeel, and Mibsam, 14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, ** and Hadar,
and Tema, Jetur, Haphish, and Xedemah. ie These are the sons of Ishmael,
and these are their names, by their villages and by their kraals, twelve
princes after their folks.

17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred and thirty-and-

39© THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

■even years ; and he gave-up-the-ghost and died, and was gathered to hii
people. ||

ie And these are the generations of Isaao the son of Abraham.

Abraham begat Isaae. *> And Isaao was forty years old at his taking hut
for wife Bebekah, the daughter of Bethnel the Syrian, out of Padan-Aram,
the sister of Laban the Syrian. || *"> And Bebekah his wife conceived; | •♦and
her days were fulfilled to bear t and lo ! twins in her womb ! ** And the first
came-forth red, all of him, as a mantle of hair, and they called his nasu
Esan. ** And afterwards came-forth his brother, and his hand grasping upet
the heel of Esau; and (one called his name =0 his name was called Jaoob; and
Isaac was sixty years old at her bearing them. j|

ZXVX. M And Esan was forty years old and he took to wife Judith, the
daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basmath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
so And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Bebekah.

XXVXZZ. *And Isaac called unto Jaoob, and blessed him, and charged him,
and said to him, * Thou shalt not take a wife out of the daughters of Canaan.
9 Arise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethnel thy mother's father ; and
take to thee from thence a wife out of the daughters of Laban thy mother's
brother. 8 And EL-8HADDAI bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multi-
ply thee, that thou mayst become a company of peoples, * and give thee the
blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, to thy inheriting the
land of thy sojournings which E10HIM gave to Abraham ! ' * So Isaao seat-
away Jaoob, and he went to Padan-Aram, unto Laban, the ion of Bethnel the
Aramaean, the brother of Bebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esan.

9 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and had sent-him-away to
Padan-Aram, to take him from thence a wife— in blessing him too he charged

him, saying, • Thou shalt not take a wife out of the daughters of Canaan '

* and Jacob hearkened unto his father and unto his mother, and went to
Padan-Aram. 8 And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the
eye* of Isaac his father. ° And Esau went unto Ishmael, and took hfrn to
wife Hahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, the sister ol
Kebaioth, besides his other wives.)

[Here occurs the first hiatus in the Elohistic Narrative, the original account oi
Jacob's marriage — probably as brief as that of Isaac's marriage in xxv. 16 — having
apparently been removed, to make way for the circumstantial narrative of the
Jehovist in xxix. Some fragments, however, of the older story seem to have
been retained, as below ; and probably the births of all Jacob's sons, including
Benjamin, xxxv.24, were here given, though now much overlaid by Jehovistic
insertions. Thus xxx.22 is certainly Elohistic, comp. G.viii. I, xix.29, E.ii.24;
and, as the story now stands, the names of Zebulun and Joseph are twict
derived.]

M And Laban gave to her Zilpah his maid, to Leah his daughter
for maid. || . . . "And Laban gave to Bachel his daughter Bilhah his maid
for maid. I . . . 8teb And Leah conoeived and bare a son, and she called his

THE ELOHISTJC NARRATIVE. 39*

name Beuben. || "*& And ihe conceived again and bare a ion, || and she called
his name Simeon. a** And the oonceived again and bare a ion, fl . . . 3**<*And
■be conceived again and bare a ion, || . . . and she stood from bearing.

ITI. la And Bacbel saw that she bare not to Jacob, || * and she gave to
him Bilhah her maid for wife. || * And Bilhah conoeived and bare to Jacob a
son. «• And Bachel said, < Elohim hath judged me.'|| \ . . 7 And Bilhah,
Bach el' b maid, conceived again, and bare a second son to Jacob, ft* And
Bachel said, ' With wrestlings of ELOHIM have I wrestled with my sister,' ||
and she called his name Haphtali.

9 And Leah saw that she had stood from bearing; and she took Zilpah her
maid, and gave her to Jacob for wife. 10 And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare to
Jacob a son. n And Leah said, * A troop ! ' and she called his name Gad.
ia And Zilpah, Leah's maid, bare a seoond son to Jaoob. 13 And Leah said,
* My blessing ! for daughters will bless me ' ; and she called his name Asher.||

17 And ELOHIM hearkened unto Leah, and she conoeived, and bare to Jaoob
a fifth son. ^And Leah said, 'ELOHIM hath given me my hire, because I
have given my maid to my husband ' ; and she called his name Issaohar.
io And Leah oonoeived again, and bare a sixth son to Jacob. *> And Leah
said, ' ELOHIM hath presented me with a good present,' || and she called his
name Zebulun. u And afterwards she bare a daughter, and she called her
name Dinah.

99 And ELOHIM remembered Bachel, and ELOHIM hearkened unto her, and
opened her womb. ^ " And she oonoeived and bare a son, and she said,
1 ELOHIM hath gathered my reproach !' m And she called his name Joseph.)

XXXX. 17a And Jacob arose, | . . . 18 and he led away all his cattle, and
all his gain which he had gotten, the cattle of his property, which he had
gotten in Padan-Aram, to go unto Isaao his father, to the land of Canaan. ||

XXXV. 9 And ELOHIM appeared unto Jaoob again,* at his coming from
Padan-Aram, and spake with him. 10 And ELOHIM said to him, ' Thy name
is Jacob : thy name shall not be called any longer Jacob, but Israel shall be
thy name ' ; and He called his name Israel. n And ELOHIM said to him, ' I
am EL-8HADDAI: be fruitful and multiply: a nation and a company of
nations shall be out of thee, and kings shall go-forth out of thy loins. M And
the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaao, to thee will I give it, and to
thy seed after thee will I give the land.' 13 And ELOHIM went-up from him
in the place where He spake with him. ** And Jacob set-up a pillar in the
place where He spake with him, a pillar of stone ; and he dropped upon it a
drink-offering, and poured oil upon it. u And Jacob called the name of the
plaoe where ELOHIM spake with him Beth-El.

i**And they set-off from Beth-El, and it was still a space of land to come

* This seems to mean that this was a second appearance of Elohim, and this
time He appeared to Jacob, and made a^ fresh promise of the land to him and to
his seed, as formerly to Abraham and Isaac and their descendants, xvii. 1,8,19.
There is no record of any * appearance ' to Isaac, <omf>. xxviji.4.

!

392 THE ELOHISTIC AARRATIVE.

to Sphratli.g u And Baehel died, and was buried in the way of Ephrath.|
90 And Jacob set-up a pillar npon her grave.)

Mb And the aona of Jacob were twelve; "the eons of Leah, Jacob' ■ lint-
born, Beuben, and Simeon, and Levi, and Jndah, and Issachar, and Zebulun ;
94 the sons of Bachel, Joseph and Benjamin; "and the aona of Bilhah,
Rachel's handmaid, Dan and Kaphtali; "and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's
handmaid, Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, which -wore born to
him in Padan-Aram.

97 And Jacob came unto Isaao his father, to Manure, the city of Arba, | where
Abraham sojonrned, and Isaac. " And the days of Isaao were a hundred and
eighty years. "And Isaac gave-up-the-ghost, and died, and was gathered
unto his people, old and full of days ; and Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried
him.

tvx 1 And these are the generations of Esau, that is, Edom.

9 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan, Adah, daughter of Elon
the Hittite, and Aholibamah, daughter of Anah, son of Zibeon the Hivite,
9 and Basmath, daughter of Ishmael, sister of Hebaioth. * And A&ah bare to
Esau Eliphas, and Basmath bare Beuel, ° and Aholibamah bare Jonah, and
Jaalam, and Kerch. These are the sons of Esau, which were born to him in
the land of Canaan.

And Esau took his wives and his sons and his daughters, and all the souls
of his house, and his cattle and all his beasts, and all his gain which he had
gotten in the land of Canaan, and went unto the land "[of Seir] because of
Jacob his brother. i y r their gain was plentiful above living together, and
the land of their sojourning was not able to bear them because of their cattle.
8 And Esau dwelt in Mount Seir : Esau, he is Edom.

e And these are the generations of Esau, the father of Edom, in Mount
Seir.

i° These are the names of the sons of Esau— Eliphas, the son of Adah,
Esau's wife, Beuel, the son of Basmath, Esau's wife.

ii And the sons of Eliphas, Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenas.
ia And Timnah was concubine to Eliphas, Esau's son, and she bear to Eliphas
Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife.

i« And these the sons of Beuel, Hahath and Zerah, Shammah and Misaah.
These were the sons of Basmath, Esau's wife.

14 And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah, grand-
daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife. And she bare to Esau Jeush and Jaalam
and Xorah.

15 These art the dukes (1 clans) of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphas,
Esau's firstborn, duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenas, i* dnke
Koran, duke Gatam, duke Amalek. These are the dukes of Eliphas in the land
of Edom ; these are the sons of Adah.

17 And these the sons of Beuel, Esau's son, duke Hahath, duke Zerah, dnke
Shammah, duke Missah. These are the dukes of Beuel in the land of Edom ;
these are the sons of Basmath, Esau's wife.

THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE. 393

18 And these are the tone of Aholibamah, Esau's wife, duke Jeush, duke
Jaalam, duke Koran. These are the dukes of Aholibamah, daughter of Anah,
Esau's wife.

These are the sons df Esau, and these their dnkes : he is Edom.0

81 And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before the
reigning of a king over the children of Israel. « And there reigned in Edom
Bela the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

88 And Bela died, and there reigned in his stead Jobab the son of Zerah,
out of Bosrah.

84 And Jobab died, and there reigned in his stead Husham, out of the land
of the Temanite.

86 And Husham died, and there reigned in his stead Hadad the son of Bedad, ||
and the name of his city was Avith.

86 And Hadad died, and there reigned in his stead Samlah, out of Haarekah.

87 And Samlah died, and there reigned in his stead Saul, out of Behoboth
of the Biver.

88 And Saul died, and there reigned in his stead Baal-Hanan son of Aohbor.
"And Baal-Hanan son of Aohbor died, and there reigned in his stead

Hadad, and the name of his city was Pan, and the name of his wife was He-
hetabel, daughter of Hatred, granddaughter of Hesahab.

40 And these are the names of the dukes of Esau, according to their families,
according to their places, by their names : — duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke
Jethath, ^duke Aholibamah, duke Elan, duke Pinon, ^dukeKenas, duke
Toman, duke Hibsar, *• duke Hagdiel, duke Iram. These are the dukes of
Edom, according to their dwellings in the land of their possession : he is
Esau, the father of Edom.

XXXVZZ. 1 And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, in
the land of Canaan.

2* These are the generations of Jaoob.

Joseph, seventeen years old, was tending with his brethren among the
flocks, and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah,
his father's wives. |* . . . as* And there passed-over Hidianites, merchantmen. ||

* No part of the present history of Joseph before Jacob's descent into Egypt,
xlvi.6,7, belongs to the Elohist, except r.2a and perhaps v. 28a, 36, as above, where
'Midianites' are named instead of ' Ishmaelites,' as in ^.25,27. The •sons of
Bilhah and sons of Zilpah,' z/.2a, appear no more in the story. As the Elohist
knows nothing of any ill-blood between Sarah and Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac,
Esau and Jacob, Leah and Rachel, so he probably knew of none between Joseph
and his brethren, and may have represented Joseph as having been merely kid-
napped and carried off into Egypt by the Midianites, while out one day, with
only /our of his brethren, tending his father's sheep. A very few words may have
sufficed for this, e.g., 'and there passed-over Midianites, merchantmen, [and they
saw Joseph and laid hold on him and took him,] and the Midianites sold him into

394 THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

ae And the Midianites fold him into Egypt, to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh,
oaptain of the gnard. | . . .

XX. VX. e And they took their cattle and their gain which they had gotten
in the land of Canaan, and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all hie seed with
him. i Hii sons and his tone' 10m with him, hii daughter! and hia aoni'
daughters, and all his seed, brought he with him to Egypt.

• And these are the names of the sons of Israel that came to Egypt, Jacob
and his sons ; Jacob's firstborn, Beuben ; ° and the sons of Reuben, Enoch
and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. 10 Aud the sons of Simeon, Jemuel, and
Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Saul son of the Canaan item,
11 And the sons of Levi, Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. ** And the sons
of Judah, Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Phares, and Zarah.(| **And the
sons of Issaohar, Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. x *And the sons
of Zebulun, Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. u These are the aona of Leah,
whioh she bare to Jacob in Padan-Aram, and Dinah his daughter, all the
souls of his sons and daughters, thirty-three.

ie And the sons of Gad, Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Esbon, Eri, and
Arodi, and Areli. 17 And the sons of Asher, Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui,
and Beriah, and Serah their sister ; and the sons of Beriah, Heber and Mal-
chiel. w These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah hia daughter,
and she bare these to Jacob, sixteen souls.

10 The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife, Joseph and Benjamin. *> And there
were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-
pherah priest of On bare to him, Hanasseh and Ephraim. ai And the sons of
Benjamin, Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Kaaman, Ehi and Rosh,
Huppim, and Huppim, and Ard. M These are the sons of Bachel, which were
born to Jacob, all the souls fourteen.

as And the sons of Dan, Hushim. »* And the sons of Kaphtali, Jabaeel, and
^funi, and Jeser, and Shillem. &* These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban
gave to Bachel his daughter, and she bare these to Jacob, all the souls seven.

so All the souls of Jacob that came to Egypt, coming-forth out of hia loins, [|
all the souls were sixty-and-six. *7 And the sons of Joseph, .which were born
to him in Egypt, wire two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob that
came to Egypt were seventy. ||

XZjVZZ. 7 And Joseph brought Jacob his father, and stationed him before
Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, < About
what are the days of the years of thy life t ' ° And Jacob said unto Pharaoh,
* The days of the years of my sojourning* are a hundred and thirty years ;
few and evil have been the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the
days of their sojournings.' 10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went-forth
from before Pharaoh.

Egypt, &c* The Elohist must then have stated how Joseph came to be high in
office under Pharaoh, and how his father and brethren heard of his being alive
and went down to settle in Egypt — these points being referred to in the following
portion of the Elohistic Narrative.

THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE, 395

11*4 And Joseph aettled hit father and his brethren || in the land of Barneses ; \
roand they were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. » And Jacob lived in
the land of Egypt seventeen years, and Jacob's days of the years of his life
were a hundred and forty-seven years. ||

XZ.VXXX. s And Jaoob said onto Joseph, ' EL-SHADDAI appoared unto me
at Lui in the land of Canaan and blessed me, *and said unto me, " Lo! I will
make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and (give) make thee for a company of
peoples ; and I will give this land to thy seed after thee, a perpetual posses-
sion." 6 And now, thy two sons, which were born to thee in the land of
Egypt before my coming onto thee to Egypt, they are mine, Ephraim and
Hanasseh: even as Benben and Simeon they shall be mine. e And thy off-
spring, which thou hast begotten after them, shall be thine; by the names of
their brothers shall they be called in their inheritance. 7 And I, at my
coming from Padan,— Bachel died beside me in the land of Canaan, when
there was yet a space of land to come to Ephrath, and I buried her in the
way te Ephrath/ 1|

XX.XX. l »And Jacob called unto his sons,|| ^and he charged them, and
said unto them, ' I shall be gathered to my people ; bury me unto my fathers
in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, a in the cave that is in
the field of Machpelah, which is east of Hamre, in the land of Canaan, which
Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a
burial-place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there they
buried Isaac and Bebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 8"The purchase
of the field and of the cave that is in it was from the sons of Heth.' as And
Jaoob ended to charge his sons, and he was gathered unto his people. ||
Zj. *s And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the
cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a
possession of a burial-place from Ephron the Hittite, east of Hamre. ||

EXODUS,

X. x And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came to
Egypt with Jacob, each and his house they came— * Beuben, Simeon, Levi, and
Judah, 8 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, *Dan and Haphtali, Gad and
Asher. 6 And all the souls that went-forth out of Jacob's thigh were seventy
souls ; and Joseph was in Egypt.

9 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. 1 And
the children of Israel were fruitful and teemed and multiplied, and were ex-
ceedingly mighty ; and the land was filled with them. || ls And the Egyptians
made the children of Israel to serve with rigour. | XX. a8b And the children
of Israel sighed because of the service, and they cried ; and their wail went-
up unto ELOHIM because of the service. M And ELOHIM heard their sighing,
and ELOHIM remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
Jacob. 8*And ELOHIM saw the children of Israel, and ELOHIM knew. R

396 THE ELOHISTIC NARRATIVE.

VX. a And ELOHIM spake unto Hoses * and said unto him, * I am JEHOVAH.
8 And I appeared unto Abraham and unto Iiaae and unto Jacob by the name
EL-8HADDAI ; bnt by My name JEHOVAH I did not make-myaolf known to
them. * And I have alio established My Covenant with them, to give to them
the land of Canaan, the land of their sojonrnings in which they sojourned.
5 And I have also heard the sighing of the children of Israel, whom the
Egyptians make to serve, and I have remembered My Covenant. . . .

[Here the Elohistic Narrative ends abruptly, having been broken off perhaps
through the sickness or death of the writer, or perhaps because he had completed
the special work which he had set himself to do, vit. to record the history of the
primeval times, down to the revelation of the name Jehovah at the time of the
Exodus.]

* The Elohist here mentions Moses for the first time in what now remains of his
work, and may have given a short notice about his birth between this passage and
ii. 230-25, which the Jehovist has replaced by his more circumstantial narrative.
But this assumption is not absolutely necessary. We see that Joshua is introduced
quite as abruptly by the Jehovist in E.xvii.9 and Hur in v. 10.

/

APPENDIX II.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

N. B, The sign [| dettotes that here an interpolation occurs in the Original Story.
The passages within [ ] belong to the Elohistic Narrative,

I. [*And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came to
Egypt with Jacob, — each and his honse they came : * Reuben, Simeon, Levi,
and Judah, sissaehar, Zebnlnn, and Benjamin, *Dan and Kaphtali, Gad and
Asher. * And all the sonls that went-forth out of Jacob 1 * thigh were seventy
souls ; and Joseph was in Egypt.

6 And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation, i And
the children of Israel fructified and teemed and multiplied, and were exceed-
ingly mighty ; and the land was filled with them.] • And there arose a new
king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. • And he said unto his people, ( Lo !
the people of the children of Israel are more numerous and mighty than we.
19 Come on ! let us deal-wisely with it, lest it multiply, and it come-to-pass, when
war happeneth, that it join-itself, it also, to our foes, and fight against us, and
go-up out of the land.' " And they placed over it princes of tribute so as to
afflict it with their burdens ; and it built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithora and
Rameses. " And, as they afflicted it, so it multiplied, and so it broke-forth ; and
they were vexed because of the children of Israel. [ 13 And the Egyptians made
the children of Israel to serve with rigour.*] " And tbey embittered their
lives with hard service, in clay, and in brick, and in all kind of service in the
field : all their service, which they (served) laid upon them, they laid with
rigour. +

* This would be tame, if written by the same hand which had already written
v.i I.

t J. explains here the statement of E. in v. 13, showing in what the ' service '
consisted, in agreement with his own previous words in v. 11.

398 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

u And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, (of whom the name of
the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the second was Puah), '• and he said,

I When ye help the Hebrew-women to bear, and see at the troughs, if it is a son,
then put-him to-death, and, if it is a daughter, then let her live.' ,T And the
midwives feared Elohim, and did not do as the king of Egypt spake unto them,
but let the boys live. '• And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said
to them, ' Why have ye done this thing, and let the boys live ? ' ■• And the
midwives said unto Pharaoh, ' Because the Hebrew-women are not as the
Egyptian-women, for they are lively : before the midwife cometh-in unto them
they have borne.'

*• And Elohim did-good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and they
were very mighty. ,! And it came-to-pass, because the midwives feared Elohim,
that He made for them households. ** And Pharaoh commanded all his people
saying* 'Every son that is born — ye shall cast him into the River, and every
daughter ye shall let live.'

II. * And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter
of Levi. * * And the woman conceived and bare a son, and she saw that he was
fair, and she hid him three months. ■ And she was not able to hide him any
longer, and she took for him an ark of rushes, and daubed it with bitumen and
with pitch, and placed the boy in it, and placed it in the weeds by the brink
of the River. 4 And his sister stood some-way-off, to know what would be done
to him.

* And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe by the River, and her
damsels were walking by the side of the River ; and she saw the ark in the midst
of the weeds, and sent her handmaid, and took it. • And she opened and 9a w
him, the boy, and lo ! a child weeping ! and she had pity on him and said, « This
is one of the boys of the Hebrews.' ' And his sister said unto Pharaoh's daughter,
' Shall I go and call thee a suckling-woman of the Hebrews, that she may suckle
the boy for thee ? ' 8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, ' Go ! ' and the maiden
went, and called the boy's mother. • And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, * Take
this boy away, and suckle him for me, and I — I will give thy hire ' ; and the
woman took the boy and suckled him. I0 And the boy grew, and she brought-
him-in to Pharaoh's daughter, and he was to her for a son ; and she called his
name Moses {Mosheh) % and said, ' Because I have drawn {mas hah) him out of the
water.'

11 And it came to pass in those days that Moses grew, and he went -forth unto
his brethren, and looked at their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian man smiting a
Hebrew man, one of his brethren. w And he turned-his-face here and there, and
saw that there was no man, and smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

II And he went-forth on the second day, and lo ! two men, Hebrews, roere con-
tending; and he said to the wrong-doer, * Wherefore smitest thou thy neighbour?'
14 And he said, * Who placed thee as a prince and a judge over us ? Art thou
thinking to slay me as thou didst slay the Egyptian ? ' And Moses feared and

* The writer, who speaks merely of a ' man of the house of Levi,' and who
calls the woman ' a daughter of Levi,' ' the woman,' #.2,9, ' the child's mother,*
v. 8, evidently knew nothing of the names of their parents ' Amram ' and ' Joche-
bed,' which are due to the L.L., vi.20, N.xxvi,59.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 399

said, ' Surely the matter is known.' '• And Pharaoh heard of this matter and
thought to slay Moses ; and Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in
the land of Midi an.

And he sat down by the well. u Now a prince of Midian had seven daughters ;
and they came and drew and filled the troughs, to water their father's flock.
17 And the shepherds came and drove-them-away ; and Moses arose and saved
them, and watered their flock. 1§ And they came -in to Reuel, their father, and
he said, ' Why have ye hastened to come-in to-day ? ' •• And they said, ' An
Egyptian man delivered us out of the hands of the shepherds, and also drew
plentifully for us, and watered the flock.' "And he said unto his daughters,
' And where is he ? Wherefore is this that ye left the man ? call him that he may
eat bread.' *' And Moses was willing to dwell with the man, and he gave
Zipporah his daughter to Moses. *■ And she bare a son, and she called him
Gershom ; for he said, ' A sojourner {ger) have I been in a strange land.'

*• And it came to pass in those many days that the king of Egypt died. [And
the children of Israel sighed because of the service/ and they cried ; and
their wail went-up nnto ELOHIM because of the service. M And ELOHIM
heard their sighing, and ELOHIM remembered His covenant with Abraham,
with Isaac, and with Jacob. ** And ELOHIM saw the children of Israel, and
ELOHIM knew.]

III. l And Moses was feeding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, prince of
Midian ; and he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came unto the Mount of
Elohim. II 2 And there appeared unto him an angel of Yahveh in a flame of fire
out of the midst of the thorn-bush ; and he saw and lo ! the thorn-bush was
burning with fire, and the thorn-bush was not devoured. ■ And Moses said, ' Let
me turn-aside, I pray, and see this great appearance, why the thorn-bush is not
burnt.' * And Yahveh saw that he turned-aside to see, and Elohim called unto
him out of the midst of the bush and said, ' Moses ! Moses ! ' And he said,
« Behold me ! ' * And He said, ' Come not near hither ; cast thy shoes from off
thy feet, for the place on which thou art standing is holy ground.' • And He
said, ' I am the Elohim of thy father, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of
Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to
behold Elohim. t And Yahveh said, ' I have verily seen the affliction of My
people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard because of its exactors ; for

I know its woes. • And I have come-down to deliver it Out of the hand of the
Egyptians, and to bring-it-up out of that land unto a land good and large, unto
a land flowing with milk and honey. || • And now, lo ! the cry of the children of
Israel has come-in unto me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the
Egyptians are oppressing them. *• And now, come, and I will send thee unto
Pharaoh, and bring- thou-forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.'

II And Moses said unto Elohim, ' Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and
that I should bring-forth the children of Israel out of Egypt ?' '* And He said,
' For I will be with thee ; and this shall be the sign for thee that I have sent thee :
at thy bringing- forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve Elohim by this
Mount.' " And Moses said unto Elohim, ' Lo ! when I come unto the children

* This so obviously refers to the words in i.13, and not ii. 1-233-, that the
interpolation of the Jehovist is distinctly betrayed.

400 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

of Israel, and shall say to them, the Elohim of your fathers hath sent me un
you, and they shall say to me, What is His Name ? what shall I say unto them
"And Elohim said unto Moses, «I AM WHO I AM': and He said, 'Thi
shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.'

'* And Elohim said again unto Moses, * Thus shalt thou say unto the childit
of Israel, Yahveh, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, tl
Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, hath sent me unto you : this is W
Name for ever, and this My memorial for generation and generation. ,f Go, an
thou shalt gather the elders of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them, Yahveh, tl
Elohim of your fathers, hath appeared unto me, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaai
and Jacob, saying, I have surely visited you, and that which is done to you i
Egypt. 1T And I have said, I will bring-you-up out of the affliction of Egypt
unto a land flowing with milk and honey. "And they shall hearken to thy voia
and thou shalt go-in, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, an
ye shall say unto him, Yahveh," the Elohim of the Hebrews, hath met with us
and now, let us go, we pray, a journey of three days into the wilderness, an
sacrifice to Yahveh our Elohim. '• And I — I know that the king of Egypt wi
not (give) allow you to go, not even by a strong hand. *• And I will put-fort
My hand, and will smite Egypt with all My marvels, which I will do in the mid!
1 of it, and afterwards he will let-you-go. ,! And I will put the favour of thi
people in the eyes of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass, when ye go, thi
ye shall not go empty ; ** and every woman shall ask from her neighbour, an
from her who sojourneth in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold an
garments, and ye shall place them on your sons and on your daughters, and y
shall spoil the Egyptians.'

IV. ! And Moses answered and said, ' But lo ! they will not believe me, an
they will not hearken unto my voice, for they will say Yahveh hath not appeare
unto thee.' * And Yahveh said unto him, * What is this in thy hand ? * And fa
said, *A staff.' "And He said, 'Cast it to the earth': and he cast it to th
earth, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from its presence, t And Yahve:
said unto Moses, ' Put-forth thy hand, and lay-hold on its tail,' — and he put-fort
his hand, and laid-hold on it ; and it became a staff in his palm — • * so that the
may believe that Yahveh the Elohim of their fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, tl
Elohim of Isaac, and the Elohim of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. '

• And Yahveh said unto him again, * Put-in, I pray, thy hand into thy bosom
and he put-in his hand into his bosom, and be brought -it- forth, and lo ! his han
was leprous like snow. 7 And He said, ' Put-back thy hand into thy bosom, '-
and he put-back his hand into his bosom, and he brought-it-forth from h
bosom, and lo ! it had returned like his other flesh— 1 ■ and it shall come to pas
if they will not believe thee, and will not hearken to the voice of the first sigi
that they will believe the voice of the second sign. • And it shall come to pas
if they will not believe also these two signs, and will not hearken to thy voia
that thou shalt take of the waters of the River and pour on the dry-land ; and
shall be, the water which thou shalt take out of the River, — yea, it shall becon
blood upon the dry-land.'

'• And Moses said unto Yahveh, ' Oh my Lord ! I am not a man of won
either yesterday or before, or since Thy speaking unto Thy servant ; for I a<
slow of mouth and slow of tongue.' " And Yahveh said unto him, * "Who hi

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. .401

(placed) made a mouth for man ? or who shall make dumb or deaf or open-eyed
or blind ? is it not Yah veh ? lt And now, go, and I will be with thy mouth, and
will direct thee what thou shalt speak.' !i And he said, ' O my Lord ! send, I
pray, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt send.' H And Yahveh's anger was
kindled against Moses, and He said, • Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother ? I
know that he will certainly speak, and also, lo ! he cometh-forth to meet thee,
and he will see thee and rejoice in his heart ** And thou shalt speak unto him,
and thou shalt place words in his mouth, and I will be with thy mouth and with
his mouth, and will direct you what ye shall do. " And he shall speak for thee
unto the people, and it shall come to pass that he shall become to thee a mouth
and thou shalt become to him Elohim. " And this staff thou shalt take in thy
hand, wherewith thou shalt do the signs.'

18 And Moses went and returned unto Jethro his father-in-law, and said to
him, ' Let me go, I pray, and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see
whether they are yet alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, 'Go in peace.' w And
Yah veh said to Moses in Midian,* ' Go, return to Egypt, for all the men are
dead who sought thy life.' "And Moses took his wife and his sons (? son),
and made them ride on the ass, and returned to the land of Egypt, and Moses
took the staff of Elohim in his hand. *} And Yah veh said unto Moses, ' At thy
going to return to Egypt, see, all these wonders that I put in thy hand, that thou
do them before Pharaoh ; but I will harden his heart, and he will not let the
people go. n And thou shalt say \into Pharaoh, ' Thus saith Yahveh, My son,
My firstborn, is Israel. ,g And I say unto thee, Let My son go that he may serve
Me ; but, refuse to let him go, lo ! I slay thy son, thy firstborn.' 84 And it came to
pass in the way, at the resting-place, that Yahveh lighted on him, and sought to
kill him. ** And Zipporah took a flint, and cut-off the foreskin of her son, and
threw it at his feet, and said, ' Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. '
*• And He desisted from him ; then she said, ' a bridegroom of blood,' because of
the circumcision.

,T And Yahveh said unto Aaron, ' Go to the wilderness to meet Moses ' : and
he went, and lighted on Moses at the Mount of Elohim and kissed him. n And
Moses told to Aaron all the words of Yahveh with which He had sent him, and
all the signs which He had commanded him. *• And Moses went and Aaron, and
they gathered all the Elders of the children of Israel. * And Aaron spake all the
words which Yahveh had spoken with Moses, and he [Moiei] did the signs
before the eyes of the people. tl And ,the people believed, and they heard that
Yahveh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their afflic-
tion, and they bowed-the-head and worshipped.

V. l And afterwards Moses and Aaron went-in and they said unto Pharaoh,
1 Thus saith Yahveh, the Elohim of Israel, Let My people go, that they may
keep a Feast to Me in the wilderness.' * And Pharaoh said, ' Who is Yahveh,
that I should hearken to His voice to let Israel go ? I know not Yahveh, and
also Israel I will not let go.' s And they said, ' The Elohim of the Hebrews hath

* The previous call of Moses, and the directions given to him, were, therefore,
only preparatory ; when the proper moment was come, Moses received a divine
notice 'in Midian,' where he was with Jethro, having already obtained his con-
sent to his going.

D D

402

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

met with us : let us go, we pray, a journey of three days in the wilderness ax
sacrifice to Yahveh our Elohim, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or wii
sword.' * And the king of Egypt said unto them, ' Wherefore do ye, Moses ax
Aaron, set the people free from its works : go ye to your burdens.' *Ai
Pharaoh said, ' Lo ! numerous now is the people of the land, and ye make the
rest from their burdens.'

• And Pharaoh commanded on that day the exactors among the people and i
officers, saying, * ' Ye shall not add to give straw to the people for the making <
bricks as heretofore ; let them go and collect straw for themselves. • And the ta
of brick which they were making heretofore shall ye lay upon them, ye shall xm
diminish from it ; for idle are they : therefore are they crying, saying, Let us gi
let us sacrifice to our Elohim. 9 Let the service be heavy upon the men, and 1<
them work at it, and let them not regard lying words.'

10 And the exactors of the people and its officers went-forth and said unto ti
people, saying, 'Thus saith Pharaoh, I give you no straw : "do ye go, take fc
yourselves straw from what ye find ; for there is nothing diminished from you
service.' " And the people was scattered through all the land of Egypt, t
collect stubble for straw. " And the exactors were urgent, saying, ' Finish you
works, the matter of a day in its day, as when there was straw. ' ,4 And th
officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's exactors had placed over then
were beaten, saying, ' Why have ye not finished your portion, in making-bricks a
heretofore, both yesterday and to-day ? ' " And the officers of the children c
Israel came-in and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, ' W T herefore doest thou thus to th;
servants ? w Straw has not been given to thy servants, and they are saying to us
Make-bricks ; and lo ! thy servants are beaten, but thy people have done th
wrong.' lT And he said, ' Idle are ye, idle ! therefore are ye saying, Let us go, letu
sacrifice to Yahveh. ,8 And now, go ye, serve ! for straw shall not be given t<
you, yet the tale of bricks shall ye give.'

'• And the officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in evil east
(saying) it being said, ' Ye shall not diminish from your bricks, the matter of ;
day in its day.' w And they lighted upon Moses and Aaron standing to mee
them at their coming-forth from Pharaoh. 7I And they said unto them, • Le
Yahveh look upon you and judge ; for ye have made our savour to stink in th
eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to give a sword into their han<
to slay us.'

** And Moses returned unto Yahveh and said, ' O Lord, wherefore hast Thoi
done evil to this people ? Wherefore is this that Thou sentest me ? ** For sino
I went-in unto Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he has done-evil to this people
and Thou hast not at all delivered thy people.' VI. ' And Yahveh said unto Moses
1 Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh ; for through a strong hand shal
he let them go, and through a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land,
p And Elohim ipake unto Moses and laid unto him, < I am YAHVEH. 8 a b ^ ]
appeared unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by EL-SHABDAI
but by my Name YAHVEH I did not make-Kyielf -known to them. 4 And 1
have also established My covenant with them, to give to them the land o:
Canaan, the land of their sojourning! in which they sojourned. c And ]
have alio heard the sighing, of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptian!
make to serve, and I have remembered My covenant.'] f| B And Moses spake

7

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 403

so unto the children of Israel : and they hearkened not unto Moses for straitness
of spirit and for hard service. |)

VII. H And Yahveh said unto Moses, 'Pharaoh's heart is heavy; he refuseth
to let the people go. ! * Go unto Pharaoh in the morning : lo ! he goeth forth to
the water : and thou shalt stand to meet him by the brink of the River, and the
staff, which was turned to a serpent, thou shalt take in thy hand. '• And thou
shalt say unto him, ' Yahveh, the Elohim of the Hebrews, hath sent me unto thee,
saying, Let My people go that they may serve Me in the wilderness ; and lo !
thou hast not hearkened hitherto. ,7 Thus saith Yahveh, By this shalt thou know
that I am Yahveh : lo ! I smite with the staff that is in my hand upon the waters
that are in the River, and they shall be turned to blood. l8 And the fish that are in
the River shall die, and the River shall stink, and the Egyptians shall loath to drink
water out of the River.' || ^ And he lifted-up with the staff and smote the waters
that were in the River before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his
servants, and all the waters that were in the River were turned to blood. *' And
the fish that were in the River died, and all the River stank ; and the Egyptians
were not able to drink water out of the River, and the blood was in all the land
of Egypt. || *■ And Pharaoh turned and went-into his house, and did not set his
heart even to this. " And all the Egyptians dug round-about the River water to
drink, for they were not able to drink of the waters of the River.

"And there were fulfilled seven days after Yahveh's smiting the River.
VIII. ' And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Go unto Pharaoh and say unto him,
Thus saith Yahveh, Let My people go that they may serve Me. * And if thou
refuse to let them go, lo ! I smite all thy borders with frogs. • And the River
shall teem with frogs, and they shall come-up and go-in into thy house, and into
thy bed-room, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants and upon thy
people, and into thy ovens, and into thy trays. 4 And upon thee and upon thy
people and upon thy servants shall the frogs come up. ' * ... I ■ And Pharaoh
called to Moses and to Aaron and said, ' Make-entreaty unto Yahveh that He
take-away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people
go, that they may sacrifice to Yahveh.' • And Moses said to Pharaoh, ' (Honour-
thyself over me = ) Honour me by saying for when I shall make entreaty for thee
and for thy servants and for thy people, to cut-off the frogs from thee and from thy
house ; only in the River shall they be left.' ,0 And he said, ' For to-morrow ' ;
and he said, 'According to thy word ! in order that thou mayest know that there is
none like Yahveh our Elohim. n And the frogs shall go away from thee and from
thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people ; only in the River shall
they be left.' "And Moses and Aaron went-forth from Pharaoh, and Moses
cried unto Yahveh about the matter of the frogs which He had laid on Pharaoh.
" And Yahveh did according to the word of Moses ; and the frogs died out of the
houses, out of the villages, and out of the field. " And they collected them in
heaps, heaps, and the land stank. **• And Pharaoh saw that there was breathing-
time and he made-heavy his heart. ||

n And Yahveh said unto Moses, « Rise-early in the morning, and station thyself

* Here the original account of the frogs being brought-up either by Moses
acting with his rod or by a direct act of Yahveh, as in viii.24, ix.6, xii.29, has
been struck out by L.L., to make room for the magnification of Aaron in v. $-7.

D D 2

4°4

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

before Pharaoh : lo ! he goeth-forth to the water ; and thou shalt say unto him
' Thus saith Yahveh, Let My people go that they may serve Me, n For if thoi
let not My people go, lo ! I send on thee and on thy servants and on thy peopl<
and on thy houses the cockroach ; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be ml
of the cockroach, and also the ground on which they are. ** And I will distin
guish in that day the land of Goshen, on which My people stand, that there be m
cockroach there ; so that thou mayest know that I am Yahveh in the midst of tin
land ; ** and I will place a division between My people and thy people : to-morrow
shall this sign be. ' ** And Yahveh did so ; and there came-in the cockroach u
multitudes into the house of Pharaoh and into the house of his servants, and inti
all the land of Egypt ; the land was corrupted because of the cockroach. * Anc
Pharaoh called unto Moses and to Aaron and said, ' Go ye, sacrifice to yon
Elohim in the land.' M And Moses said, ' It is not right to do thus ; for we shal
sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Yahveh out Elohim. Lo ! shall w<
sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they no
stone us ? ,T A journey of three days will we go in the wilderness, and sacrifioi
to Yahveh our Elohim, as He shall say to us.' » And Pharaoh said, * I will let
you-go, that ye may sacrifice to Yahveh your Elohim in the wilderness ; only d(
not go very far away. Make-entreaty on my behalf.' *• And Moses said, « Lo ! 1
go-forth from thee, and will make-entreaty unto Yahveh that the cockroach ma]
go-away from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people, to-morrow.
Only let not Pharaoh add to act-deceitfully, so as not to let the people go tr
sacrifice to Yahveh.' ••And Moses went-forth from Pharaoh, and made-entreatj
unto Yahveh. •' And Yahveh did according to the word of Moses, and he took-
away the cockroach from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people ; no!
one was left. "And Pharaoh made-heavy his heart at this time also, and he did
not let the people go.

IX. ' And Yahveh said unto Moses, l Go-in unto Pharaoh, and thou shalt speak
unto him, Thus saith Yahveh the Elohim of the Hebrews, Let My people go
that they may serve Me. * For, if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt still keep thy
ho'd on them, • lo ! the hand of Yahveh is upon thy cattle which is in the field,
upon horses, upon asses, upon camels, upon oxen, and upon sheep — a very
grievous pestilence. * And Yahveh will distinguish between the cattle of Israel
and the cattle of the Egyptians ; and there shall not a thing die of all which
belongs to the children of Israel.' • And Yahveh set an appointed-time, saying,
'To-morrow Yahveh will do this thing in the land.' • And Yahveh did that
thing on the morrow, and all cattle pf the Egyptians died, and of cattle of Israel
died not even one. T And Pharaoh sent, and lo ! there was not dead out of the
cattle of the children of Israel even one : but the heart of Pharaoh was heavy, and
he did not let the people go. ||

,g And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Rise-early in the morning, and present-thy-
self before Pharaoh, and thou shalt say unto him, Thus saith Yahveh, the
Elohim of the Hebrews, Let My people go that they may serve Me. u For at this
time I will send all My plagues upon thy heart, and on thy servants, and on thy
people, so that thou mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth.
14 For now I had put-forth My hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pesti-
lence, and thou hadst been cut-off from the earth. '• Nevertheless, on account ol
this I have let thee stand, in order that I may make thee see My power, and k

//

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 405

order to declare My name in all the earth. " As yet thou exaltest thyself against
My people not to let them go. " Lo ! I will make-it- rain about this time to-
morrow very heavy hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day of its foun-
dation even until now. M And now, send, secure thy cattle and all which thou
hast in the field : all the men and beasts which are found in the field and are not
gathered into the house — the hail shall come-down upon them and they shall die.'
" He who feared the word of Yahveh of the servants of Pharaoh, made his servants
and his cattle flee into the houses. n And he who set not his heart unto the word
of Yahveh, left his servants and his cattle in the field. w And Yahveh said
unto Moses, * Stretch out thy hand towards heaven, that there may be hail in all
the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every herb in the field in the land
of Egypt.' "And Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and Yahveh
sent thunderings and hail, and the fire went towards the earth ; and Yahveh
rained hail upon the land of Egypt. «• And there was hail and fire continual in the
midst of the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt
since it became a nation. ** And the hail smote in all the land of Egypt all that was
in the field, from man even unto beast ; and every herb of the field the hail smote,
and every tree of the field it broke. u Only in the land of Goshen, where the
children of Israel were, was there no hail. t7 And Pharaoh sent and called to
Moses and to Aaron, and said unto them, ' I have sinned this time : Yahveh is the
righteous, and I and my people are the guilty. n Make-entreaty unto Yahveh,
and let there be enough of there being thunders of Elohim and hail ; and I will
let you go, and ye shall not any longer stay.' *• And Moses said unto him, ' At
my going-forth from the city, I will spread-out my hands unto Yahveh ; the
thunders shall cease and the hail shall be no more, in order that thou maycst know
that the earth is Yahveh's. i0 But thou and thy servants— I know that ye will
fear not yet because of Yahveh-Elohim.' n Now the flax and the barley were
smitten ; for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in the flower. ■* But the
wheat and the spelt were not smitten, for they were dark. w And Moses went-
forth from Pharaoh out of the city, and he spread-out his hands unto Yahveh ;
and the thunders and the hail ceased ; and the rain was not poured -out to the
earth. M But, when Pharaoh saw that the rain ceased and the hail and
the thunders, he sinned yet more and made-heavy his heart, he and his ser-
vants. I

X. « And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Go-in unto Pharaoh, for I have made-
heavy his heart and the hearts of his servants, that so I may set these my signs in
the midst of him, * and that so thou mayest relate in the ears of thy son and thy
son's son what I have wrought-j-eproachfully in Egypt, and my signs which I have
placed among them, that ye may know that I am Yahveh.' • And Moses went-
in and Aaron unto Pharaoh, and they said unto him, ' Thus saith Yahveh the
Elohim of the Hebrews, How long dost thou refuse to humble-thyself before Me ?
Let My people go that they may serve Me. * For, if thou refusest to let My people
go, lo ! I bring to-morrow the locust on thy border. * And it shall cover the eye
of the land, and thou shalt not be able to see the land, and it shall eat the remnant
of that which is escaped, which is left to you by the hail, and it shall eat every
tree which groweth for you out of the field. • And it shall fill thy houses, and the
houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy
fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen since the day of their being on the ground

406

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

unto this day.' And he turned -his-face and went-forth from Pharaoh. f And tl
servants of Pharaoh said unto him, ' How long shall this (man) become a snare f
us ? Let the men go that they may serve Yahveh their Elohim. Knowest Uk
not yet that Egypt has perished ? ' ■ And Moses and Aaron were brought bac
to Pharaoh, and he said unto them, ' Go ye, serve Yahveh your Elohim ; wl
and who are those going ? ' • And Moses said, ' With our young and with our ol
will we go ; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with on
herds, will we go ; for we have a Feast to Yahveh.' ,# And he said unto them
' Yahveh be so with you, as I will let you go and your little ones ! Look ye
for evil is over-against you. " Not so ! go ye, I pray, the men, and sen?
Yahveh : for that were ye seeking.' And one drove them from the presence <
Pharaoh. " And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Stretch-out thy hand over the Ian
of Egypt for the locust, that it may come-up over the land of Egypt, and eat ever
herb of the land, all which the hail has left.' "And Moses stretched-forth his sta
over the land of Egypt, and Yahveh guided an east-wind over the land all tha
day and all the night ; the morning was, and the east- wind brought the locust
14 And the locust came-up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borde
of Egypt, very grievous ; before it was no such locust as it, and after it there shal
not be such. "* And it covered the eye of all the land, and the land was darkened
and it ate every herb of the land and every fruit of the trees which the hail hat
left, and there was not left any green-thing in the trees and in the herb of thi
field in all the land of Egypt. w And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses ant
Aaron and said, ' I have sinned against Yahveh your Elohim and against you
"And now, forgive, I pray, my sin only this time, and make-entreaty t<
Yahveh your Elohim that he may take-away from me only this death.' >• Anc
he went-forth from Pharaoh and made-entreaty unto Yahveh. I9 And Yahveh
turned a strong west -wind, and it took -up the locust and threw it into the Red
Sea : there was not left one locust in all the boundary of Egypt. *» But Yahveh
hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the people of Israel go.

21 And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Stretch-out thy hand over the heaven, that
there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, that one may feel darkness.'
" And Moses stretched-forth his hand over the heaven, and there was darkness,
thick darkness, in all the land of Egypt three days. *• They saw not one his
brother, and they arose not each from his place three days : but for all the children
of Israel there was light in their dwellings. u And Pharaoh called unto Moses
and said, ' Go ye, serve Yahveh ! only your flocks and your herds shall be
stayed ; also your little-ones shall go with you.' u And Moses said, ' Thou also
shalt give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may offer to Yahveh
our Elohim. *• And also our cattle shall go with us, not a hoof shall be left ; for
we shall take of it to serve Yahveh our Elohim ; and we know not with what
we shall serve Yahveh until our coming thither.' "But Yahveh hardened
Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. «• And Pharaoh said to him,
• Begone from me 1 beware-thee that thou see not my face again ; for in the day
of thy seeing my face thou shalt die.' n And Moses said, * So hast thou spoken :
I will not see thy face any more.'

XI. ' Now Yahveh had said unto Moses, 'Yet one stroke more will I bring
upon Pharaoh and upon the Egyptians ; afterwards he will let you go hence : at
his letting you go, he will surely drive you away hence altogether. 2 Speak now
in the ears of the people, and let them ask, each from his neighbour and each

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 407

woman from her neighbour, articles of silver and articles of gold.' * * And Yahveh
had put favour for the people in the eyes of the Egyptians : also the man Moses
was very great in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh's servants, and in-the
eyes of the people. * And Moses said.t ' Thus saith Yahveh, About midnight I
go-forth in the midst of Egypt.} * And every firstborn shall die in the land of
Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits upon his throne unto the firstborn
of the maidservant who is behind the millstones, and every firstborn of cattle.
• And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has been
none like it, nor shall be like it anymore. 7 But against any of the children of
Israel not a dog shall sharpen his tongue, even from man unto beast, that so ye
may know that Yahveh distinguished between the Egyptians and Israel. "And
all these thy servants shall come-down unto me and bow -down to me, saying, Go-
forth, thou, and all the people which is at thy feet ! and afterwards I will go-forth.'
And he went-forth from Pharaoh in heat of anger. || XII. 2t And it came to pass
that at midnight Yahveh smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive who
was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of cattle. ■• And Pharaoh rose-up in the
night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in
Egypt ; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. ,! And he called
for Moses and for Aaron in the midnight, and said, ' Arise ! go-forth from the
midst of my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go, serve Yahveh as
ye have spoken. n Also your flocks and your herds take, as ye have spoken, and
go, and bless me also.' " And the Egyptians pressed-hard upon the people, to
hasten to let them go out of the land, for they said, ' We are all of us dead men ! '
* 4 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs
being bound-up in their garments on their shoulders. ** And the children of Israel
did according to the word of Moses ; and they asked of the Egyptians articles of
silver and articles of gold, and garments. •• And Yahveh put favour for the
people in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave them gladly, and they spoiled
the Egyptians.

" And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six
hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. "And also a great rabble
went-up with them, and flocks and herds, very much cattle. n And they baked
the dough which they brought- forth out of Egypt with mazzoth (unleavened) cakes,
for it was not leavened ; for they were driven-away out of Egypt, and were not
able to tarry, and also they had not made for themselves food-for-the-way. ||

XIII. ! And Yahveh spake unto Moses saying, 2 l Sanctify for me all the first-

* The writer here recalls to the reader's recollection the words in iii. 20-22,
iv.22,23, supposed to have been spoken long ago, at the very commencement .of
the movement which led to the Exodus.

t Moses says this before going out from Pharaoh, in continuation of his words
in x.29.

X These words in xi.4, compared with xii.29, imply beyond any doubt that the
final stroke would be given on the midnight next following : and they would be so
understood by every reader but for the difficulties, introduced by the interpolation
of the L.L., about the Passover, &c., xii. 1-28, see v. 3, 6.

L

408 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

born, that openeth any womb among the children of Israel among men and cattle :
it is mine.* . . .|

• f And it came-to-pass, at Pharaoh's letting the people go, that Elohim did not
lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, for that was near, for Elohim
said, ' Lest the people repent at their seeing war and they return to Egypt.' "But
Elohim took the people roundabout by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea :
and the children of Israel went-up arrayed out of the land of Egypt. l * And
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him ; for he had strictly sworn the children
of Israel, saying, ' Elohim will certainly visit you, and ye shall bring-up hence
my bones with you.' "So they broke-mp from Succoth, and camped at Etham
at the extremity of the wilderness. tx And Y ahveh was going before them by day
in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give
them light, to go by day and by night. * He removed not the pillar of cloud by
day and the pillar of cloud by night before the people.

XIV. > And Yahveh spake unto Moses, saying, « « Speak unto the children of
Israel that they return and camp before Pi-hahiroth between Migdol and the Sea,
before Baal-Zephon : over- against it camp ye by the Sea. • For Pharaoh hath
said ot the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land : the wilderness hath
shut upon them. * But I have hardened Pl^araoh's heart that he may pursue after
them ; and I will get-myself honoured upon Pharaoh and on all his force, and the
Egyptians shall know that I am Yahveh.' And they did so.

* And it was told to the king of Egypt that the people had fled ; and the heart
of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and they said, ' What
is this we have done ? for we have let Israel go from serving us ? ' • And he
harnessed his chariot, and he took his people with him ; f and he took six
hundred chosen chariots, even all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over them
all. || » And the Egyptians pursued after them, and they overtook them camping
by the Sea, — all the chariot- horses of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his force,
—by Pi-hahiroth before Baal-Zephon.

w And Pharaoh drew-near, and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and
lo ! the Egyptians journeyed after them ; and they feared greatly, and the children
of Israel cried unto Yahveh. " And they said unto Moses, ' Because there were
no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us to die in the wilderness ? " Is not this the
thing that we spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Cease from us, and let us serve
the Egyptians ? for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than our dying in the
wilderness.' 1S And Moses said unto the people, ' Fear ye not ; stand, and see

* The O.S., which in v. 1,2, has grounded the dedication of the first-borns in
Israel, both of man and beast, upon the fact of the first-borns of man and beast
being killed in Egypt, as a memorial of that event, intended, no doubt, to ground
also the observance of the Feast of Mazzoth upon the fact of the Israelites being
compelled, for want of time, to take their bread out of Egypt unleavened, upon
which such very particular stress is laid in xii.34,39. It probably did once contain
a short passage to that effect after v. 1,2, which D. has replaced by his own lan-
guage in «>.3-i6, instituting the Feast of Mazzoth in v.3-10, and in v. 11-16 ex-
plaining and softening the abrupt words of the O.S. in v. 2, which, as they stand,
seem to imply that the firstlings of man and beast were to be dealt with alike, and
' sanctified to Yahveh ' by being sacrificed.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 409

the salvation of Yahveh, which He will (do) work for you to-day ; for the
Egyptians, whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them no more for ever.
14 Yahveh fighteth for you, and ye, be still ! ' ,4 And Yahveh said unto Moses,
4 Why cryest thou unto Me ? Speak unto the children of Israel that they break-up
(a march). " And thou, lift-up thy staff, and stretch-out thy hand over the Sea,
and cleave-it ; and the children of Israel shall go-in in the midst of the Sea on
dry-land. ,T And I— lo! I harden the heart of the Egyptians, and they shall
go-in after them ; and I will get-myself honoured on Pharaoh, and on all his
force, on his chariots and on his horsemen. 19 And the Egyptians shall know
that I am Yahveh, when I get-myself-honoured on Pharaoh, on his chariots, and
on his horsemen.' " And the angel of Elohim, that was going before the Camp
of Israel, journeyed and went behind them ; and the pillar of cloud journeyed
from before them and stood behind them ; M and it came between the Camp of
the Egyptians and the Camp of Israel ; and there was the cloud and the darkness,
and it gave light by night ; and one drew not near unto the other all the night.

21 And Moses stretched-out his hand upon the Sea, and Yahveh made the Sea
go by a strong east wind all the night, and (placed) made the Sea become dry-
land, and the waters were cleft. n And the children of Israel went-in in the
midst of the Sea on dry-land ; and the waters were for them a wall on their right
and on their left. u And the Egyptians pursued and went-in after them, every
horse of Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen, unto the midst of the Sea.
34 And it came-to-pass in the morning watch that Yahveh looked unto the Camp
of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and troubled the Camp of
the Egyptians. ** And He turned-aside the wheels of their chariots, and they
guided them with difficulty, and the Egyptians said, • Let us flee before Israel I
for Yahveh fighteth for them against us.' *• And Yahveh said unto Moses,
'Stretch-out thy hand over the Sea, that the waters may return upon the
Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.' ** And Moses stretched-
out his hand over the Sea, and the Sea returned at the turning of the morning
to its usual-power, and the Egyptians were fleeing to meet it, and Yahveh over-
threw the Egyptians in the midst of the Sea. *• And the waters returned, and
covered the chariots and the horsemen of the whole host of Pharaoh that came-in
after them in the Sea : there was not left among them even one. * And the
children of Israel went on dry-land in the midst of the Sea : and the waters were
for them a wall on their right and on their left. •• And Yahveh saved Israel on
that day out of the hand of the Egyptians ; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead
upon the brink of the Sea. S1 And Israel saw the great (hand) work which
Yahveh did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared Yahveh, and believed in
Yahveh and Moses His servant.

XV. * Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this Song * to Yahveh, and
they said, saying : —

* This ' Song of Moses * seems to have been inserted by an afterthought, as an
expansion of the Song of Miriam in v. 21, and probably by the same hand which
had completed the original account of the Exodus. This will explain the fact that
in v. 16 there appears certainly to be a reference to the passage of the Jordan, which
the writer (as we suppose) had already described —

1 Till Thy people, Yahveh, pass-ever ■,
Till this people pass-over whom Thou hast purchased.'

•

I

'*

:

L

410 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

1 1 will sing to Yahveh,
For He hath triumphed excellently ;
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the Sea.

* My Strength and my Song is Jah,
And He became for me Salvation ;
This is my El, and I will glorify Him,

The Elohim of my father, and I will exalt Him.

* Yahveh is a man of war :
Yahveh is His name.

* The chariots of Pharaoh and his force hath He thrown into the
And the choice of his captains have sunk in the Red Sea.

* The depths do cover them ;

They went -down in the depths like a stone.

* Thy right-hand, Yahveh !
Is become glorious in power ;
Thy right-hand, Yahveh !
Doth dash-in-pieces the enemy.

f And in the abundance of Thy excellency
Thou overthrowest those that rise against Thee ;
Thou sendest-forth Thy wrath ;

It consumes them as stubble.
■ For by the wind of Thy nostrils

The waters were piled ;

The floods stood as a heap ;

The depths were congealed in the heart of the Sea.
• The enemy said, ' I will pursue, I will overtake ;

I will divide spoil, my soul shall be filled with them ;

I will draw-out my sword ;

My hand shall destroy them.'
"• Thou didst blow with Thy wind ;

The Sea covered them ;

They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is like Thee among the gods, Yahveh ?

"Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness,

Fearful in praises, doing wonders ?
18 Thou stretchedst-out Thy right-hand :

The earth swallowed them.
11 Thou hast led in Thy mercy

The people whom Thou hast redeemed ;

Thou hast guided them in Thy strength

Unto the habitation of Thy holiness.
14 The peoples heard, and were afraid ;

Anguish seized on the inhabitants of Philistia.
! * Then were the dukes of Edom amazed ;

The mighty -ones of Moab — trembling seizes them,

All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted.
•• There shall fall upon them terror and dread ;

Through the greatness of Thine arm they shall be dumb as a stc

Till Thy people pass-over, Yahveh !

Till this people pass-over whom Thou hast purchased.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. \\\

,T Thou shalt bring-them-in and plant-them
In the mountain of Thine inheritance, —

The fixed-place, Yahveh ! which Thou hast made for Thine abode, —
The Sanctuary, O Lord ! which Thy hands have prepared.*
18 Yahveh shall reign for ever and ever I '
'• For Pharaoh's horse went -in with his chariots, and with his horsemen in the
Sea, and Yahveh brought-back upon them the waters of the Sea, and the children
of Israel went on dry -land in the midst of the Sea.

20 And Miriam, the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the timbrel in her hand,
and all the women went-forth after her with timbrels and with dances. *' And
Miriam answered them —

* Sing ye to Yahveh, for He hath triumphed gloriously !
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the Sea.'

n And Moses made Israel break-up from the Red Sea, and they went-forth unto
the wilderness of Shur : and they went three days in the wilderness and found no
water. w And they came to Marah, and they were not able to drink waters out
of Marah, for they were bitter ; therefore one called its name Marah. ,4 And the
people murmured against Moses, saying, ' What shall we drink ? ' **• And he
cried unto Yahveh, and Yahveh showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters,
and the waters were made sweet. || **And they came to Elim, and there were
there twelve springs of water, and seventy palm-trees, and they camped there by
the water. XVI. u And all the Assembly of the children of Israel journeyed from
Elim, and came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. ||

XVII. ! And all the Assembly of the children of Israel journeyed from the
wilderness of Sin according to their journeyings by the mouth of Yahveh, and
they camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people's drinking.
* And the people strove with Moses and said, ' Give us water that we may drink.'
And Moses said to them, ' Why do ye strive with me ? Why do ye tempt
Yahveh ? ' • And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured
against Moses, and said, * Why is this that thou hast brought-us up out of Egypt
to put (me) us to death and (my) our children and (my) our cattle with thirst ? '

4 And Moses cried unto Yahveh, saying, ' What shall I do to this people ? yet
a little and they will stone me.' • And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Pass-over
before the people, and take with thee of the Elders of Israel, and thy staff, with
which thou smotest the River, take in thy hand and go. • Lo ! I stand before
thee there by the rock,|| and thou shalt smite on the rock, and water shall come
forth out of it, and the people shall drink. ' And Moses did so before the eyes of
the Elders of Israel. T And one called the name of the place Massah (temptation)
and Mcribah (strife), on account of the strife of the children of Israel and on ac-
count of their tempting Yahveh, saying, ' Is Yahveh in the midst of us or not?'
■ And Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. • And Moses said
unto Joshua,f ' Choose for us men and go-forth, fight with Amalek : to-morrow I

* These words point to an author who lived after the establishment by David of
the Sanctuary on Mount Zion, which was meant from the first to be, as it became
ultimately, a central place of worship for all Israel.

f Joshua is here mentioned abruptly for the first time, as Hur is in v. io, (and
Moses by the Elohist in vi.2) without any previous words of introduction.

412

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

I

1

stand on the top of the hill, and the staff of Elohim in my hand. 9 u And Josh
did as Moses said to him, to fight with Amalek : and Moses, Aaron, and H
went-up to the top of the hill. " And it came-to-pass, when Moses lifted-up ]
hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he rested his hand that Amalek prevaik
'* And the hands of Moses were heavy, and they took a stone, and placed it and
him, and he sat upon it ; and Aaron and Hur took-hold on his haiyte, on this a
one and on this side one, and his hands were steady till the going-in of the so
"And Joshua weakened Amalek and his people with the edge of the swore
" And Moses built an altar and called its name YAHVEH-Nissi ( Yahveh is i
banner), ,- and said, 'The hand on the banner of J AH 1 War for Yahveh wi
Amalek from generation to generation ! '

XVIII. * And Jethro, prince of Midian, father-in-law of Moses, heard all tfe
Elohim had done for Moses and for Israel his people, that Yahvbh had brougl
forth Israel out of Egypt * And Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, took 7a
porah the wife of Moses, after his sending-her-away, * and her two sons, of who
the name of the one was Gershom, — for he said, ' A sojourner was I in a stran
land,' — 4 and the name of the other Eliezer,— 'for the Elohim of my father w
for my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharoah.' * And Jethro, tl
father-in-law of Moses, came, and his sons, and his wife, unto Moses, unto tl
wilderness where he was camping, to the Mount of Elohim. • And he said no
Moses, ' I thy father-in-law Jethro come unto thee, and thy wife and her two so
with her.' v And Moses went-forth to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed-hu
self and kissed him, and they asked one another of welfare, and they came un
the tent ■ And Moses recounted to his father-in-law all that Yahveh had doo
to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians on account of Israel, all the travail which ba
found them in the way, and Yahveh had delivered them. * And Jethro rejoic*
over all the good which Yahveh had done for Israel, whom He had delivered o
of the hand of the Egyptians. '• And Jethro said, ' Blessed be Yahveh wl
hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharao!
who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians I » Now
know that great is Yahveh above all the Elohim — yea, in the thing in whii
they dealt proudly against them.' "And Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, ta
a burnt-offering and sacrifices for Elohim ; and Aaron came, and all the elders
Israel, to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses before Elohim.

10 And it came-to-pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people ai
the people stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. ■« And the fathc
in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people and .said, ' What is tl
thing which thou art doing for the people ? Why art thou sitting by thyself ai
all the people standing by thee from morning until evening ?' >• And Moses sa
to his father-in-law, ' Because the people cometh unto me to seek Elohim. *
they shall have" a matter, they come unto me that I may judge between a man ai
his neighbour, and that I may make them know the statutes of Elohim and H
laws. 1 "And the father-in-law of Moses said unto him, 'The thing is not ew
which thou art doing. ,s Thou wilt surely wear-away, both thou and this peon
that is with thee ; for the thing is too heavy for thee ; thou wilt not be able to c
it by thyself. w Now hearken unto my voice : let me counsel thee, and Elohi
be with thee ! Be thou for the people towards Elohim, and bring-in thou tl
matters unto Elohim, *• and that thou mayest enjoin them the statutes and tr
laws, and mayest make them know the way in which they shall go and the woi

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. V%

which they shall do. ,! And thou shalt look-out from all the people men of force,
fearing Elohim, men of truth, hating lucre ; and thou shalt set them over them as
captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, and captains of tens.
K And they shall judge the people at all times ; and it shall come-to -pass that
every great matter they shall bring unto thee, and every small matter they shall
judge ; so lighten it from off thee, and they shall bear with thee. *• If thou wilt
do this thing, and Elohim command thee, then thou wilt be able to stand, and all
this people shall go to their place in peace/

u And Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all he said.
u And Moses chose men of force out of all Israel, and appointed them as heads
over the people, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties,
and captains of tens. *• And they judged the people at all times : the hard matter
they brought unto Moses, and every small matter they judged. ,T And Moses
sent-away his father-in-law, and he gat him unto his land.

XIX. (J *And they journeyed from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of
Sinai, and camped in the wilderness, and Israel camped there before the Mount.
•• And Moses went-up unto Elohim. || h And Yahveh saia unto Moses, « Lo !
I am coming unto thee in a thick cloud, in order that the people may hear at My
speaking with thee and also may believe in thee for ever.'|| "And Yahveh
said unto Moses, ' Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow,
and let them wash their clothes. n And let them be ready for the third day ; for
on the third day Yahveh will come-down in the sight of all the people on Mount
Sinai. w And thou shalt set- bounds to the people roundabout, saying, Take-heed
to yourselves as to going-up on the Mountain or touching its extremities ; every-
one that toucheth the Mountain shall surely die. ,f Let no hand touch it ; for he
shall be certainly stoned or shot-through ; whether beast or man he shall not live ;
at the drawing-out of the ram's-horn, they shall go-up on the Mount* "And
Moses went-down from the Mount unto the people, and sanctified the people, and
they washed their clothes. ,s And he said unto the people, ' Be ye ready for the
third day : come-not near to a woman.'

w And it came-to-pass on the third day, when the morning was, that there were
(voices) thunderings and lightnings, and a heavy cloud upon the Mount, and the
sound of a trumpet very loud ; and all the people trembled that were in the Camp.
17 And Moses brought-forth the people to meet Elohim out of the Camp ; and
they stationed -themselves underneath the Mount. ,8 And Mount Sinai was all of
it smoke, because Yahveh had come-down upon it in fire ; and its smoke went-
up as the smoke of the furnace, and the whole Mount trembled greatly. *• And
the sound of the trumpet was going very much louder and louder ; Moses spake,
and Elohim answered him by a (voice) thundering. || XX.* 1C And all the people
were seeing the (voices) thunderings and the flashes and the sound of the trumpet
and the Mountain smoking ; and, when the people saw, they shrunk-back and

* If Yahveh in the O.S. had uttered in the hearing of the people the Ten
Words, * with a great voice out of the midst of the fire/ how is it that in v. 18 there
is nothing said about "this — no reference to their having heard the loud-spoken
'words,' as well as the 'thunderings* and the 'sound of the trumpet* — and that
not the slightest allusion is made to them in all the ' words ' and ' judgments '
which follow, xx.22-xxiii.21 ?

414

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

stood at a distance. " And they said unto Moses, ' Speak thou with lis, and
will hear : but let not Elohim speak with us, lest we die.' M And Moses s
unto the people, ' Fear ye not ; for in order to prove you hath Elohim coi
and in order that His fear may be before your face, that ye sin not.' "And
people stood at a distance, and Moses approached unto the thick darkness wi
Elohim was.*

u And Yahvkh said unto Moses, ' Thus shalt thou say unto the children
Israel — Ye have seen that out of heaven I have spoken with you.f ** Thou si
not make with Me gods of silver, and ye shall not make you gods of gold. **
altar of earth shall ye make for Me, and thou shalt sacrifice upon it thy bo
offerings and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen : in every place wl
ye make-mention of My Name, I will come unto thee and I will bless tl
** And, if thou shalt make for Me an altar of stones, thou shalt not build then
hewn -stones ; if thou hast waved thy tool upon it, then thou shalt defile it n J
thou shalt not go-up by steps upon My altar, that thy nakedness be not reyes
upon it.

XXI. ' c And these are the judgments which thou shalt place before them.

• ' When thou buyest a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve, and in
seventh he shall go-forth free for nothing. ■ If by himself he came-in, by him
shall he go-forth ; if he was a married man, then his wife shall go- forth with h
4 If hit lord shall give him a wife, and she bear to him sons or daughters,
woman and her children shall be her lord's, and he shall go-forth by hims
• And if the servant shall positively say, I love my lord, my wife, and my childi

I will not go-forth free, - then his lord shall bring-him-nigh unto Elohim, ,
shall bring-him-nigh unto the door or unto the side-post, and his lord shall I
his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

7 * And when a man selleth his daughter for a handmaid, she shall not go-k
according to the going-forth of the men-servants. * If she be evil in the eyes
her lord, who hath betrothed her to himself, he shall let her be redeemed ; t<
strange people he shall have no power to sell her, at his dealing-faithlessly ?
her. • And if he shall betroth her to his son, according to the right of daughi
shall he do to her. I0 If he shall take another for him, her food, her cloth
and her cohabitation, he shall not diminish. " And, if he will not do these tl
to her, then she shall go-forth for nothing, without money.

« ' He that smiteth a man that he die shall surely be put to death. " And
who hath not lain-in-wait, but Elohim lets fall into his hand, I will appoint
thee a place whither he shall flee. 14 But, when a man shall act wickedly aga
his neighbour to slay him with guile, from My altar shalt thou take him for d«

II And he that smiteth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death. ■• J
he that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall sui
be put to death. I7 And he that curseth his father or his mother shall surely
put-to-death. ,s And, when men shall strive, and a man shall smite his neighb
with a stone or with his fist, and he dieth not, but falls a-bed, ,9 if he arise, i
walk-about abroad upon his staff, then the smiter shall be acquitted : only he s]

* It will be seen that the command (of the L.L.) in xix.24, that Moses she
go down and come up with Aaron, is never carried out.

f Yahveh had * spoken with them ' by the • voice ' or thundering in xix. 19.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 415

pay his resting, and shall have him thoroughly healed. *° And, when a man shall
smite his servant or his handmaid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall
certainly be punished. " Only if he shall stand a day or two days, he shall not
be punished, for he is his money. n And, when men shall strive and shall smite a
pregnant woman, and her children go-forth, and there be no mischief, he shall
certainly be mulcted as the woman's husband shall lay upon him, and he shall
give it by the judges. n But, if there shall be mischief, then thou shalt give life
for life, u eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, M burning for
burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. M And, when a man shall smite the
eye of his servant or the eye of his handmaid, and shall destroy it, he shall let him
go free for his eye. v And, if he shall smite-out the tooth of his servant or the
tooth of his handmaid, he shall let him go free for his tooth. M And when an ox
shall gore a man or a woman and die, the ox shall be surely stoned, and its flesh
shall not be eaten, and the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. *• And, if the ox
was goring aforetime, and it has been testified against its owner, and he have not
watched it, and he kill a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and also its
owner shall be put to death. ■• If an atonement is laid upon him, then he shall
give the ransom of his life according to all that shall be laid upon him. $1 Whether
it shall gore a son or shall gore a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be
done to him. n If the ox shall gore a manservant or a handmaid, thirty shekels
of silver shall he give to his master, and the ox shall be stoned. n And, when a
man shall open a pit, or when a man shall dig a pit, and shall not cover it, and
an ox or an ass fall therein, u the owner of the pit shall repay ; money shall he
return to its owner, and the dead shall be his. ■* And, when a man's ox shall
hurt his neighbour's ox and it die, then they shall sell the living ox and halve its
silver, and also the dead shall they halve. •• Or should it be known that the ox
was goring aforetime, and its owner hath not watched him, he shall certainly repay
ox for ox, and the dead shall be his.

XXII. l ' When a man shall steal an ox or a sheep, and slaughter it or sell it,
five oxen shall he repay for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. * When the
thief shall be found breaking- in and he be smitten that he die, there is no blood
for him. * If the sun had risen upon him, there is blood for him : he shall
certainly repay ; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. * If theft
be certainly found in his hand, whether it be ox or ass or sheep, alive, he shall
repay double.

* ' When a man shall eat -off a field or a vineyard, and shall let loose his beast
that it eat -off in the field of another, the best of his field and the best of his vine-
yard shall he repay. - If fire goeth- forth and catch thorns, so that stack or
standing-corn or field be devoured, he that kindled the conflagration shall certainly
repay. T When a man shall give unto his neighbour silver or vessels to keep, and
it shall be stolen out of the man's house, if the thief be found, let him repay
double. § If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought-
near unto Elohim, to swear that he hath not put his hand to his neighbour's
property. • For all matter of transgression, for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment,
for anything lost of which one shall say this is it, unto Elohim shall come the
matter of both of them : whom Elohim shall pronounce-in-fault, he shall repay
double to his neighbour. w When a man shall give unto his neighbour ass or ox
or sheep, or any beast, to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or be plundered, none
seeing, n an oath of Yahveh shall be between them both, that he has not put hit

416 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

hand to his neighbour's property, and its owner shall take it, and he shall not re-
pay. "But, if it be certainly stolen from him, he shall repay its owner. tt If it
be torn in pieces, then let him bring it ft* a witness : the torn he shall not repaj.
14 When a man shall ask of his neighbour, and it be hurt or have died, its owner
not being with it, he shall surely repay; u If its master was with it, he shall sot
repay : if it was hired, it came for its mVe.

" « And when a man shall entice a virgin who is not betrothed, and lie with her,
he shall certainly endow her for himself for wife. 1T If her father utterly refuse to
give her to him, he shall weigh-out money according to the dowry of virgins.
!i ' A witch thou shalt not let live.

'• ' Everyone lying with a beast shall surely be put-to-death.
" ' He that sacrificeth to Elohim shall be (devoted) utterly-destroyed, except
to Yahveh only.

11 ' And the sojourner thou shalt not afflict or oppress him ; for sojourners were
ye in the land of Egypt. * Any widow and orphan thou shalt not afflict °If
thou at all afflict them, surely if at all he cry unto Me, I will hear his cry ; "then
My wrath shall be kindled, and I will slay you with the sword, and your wites
shall be widows and your children orphans.

f * * If silver thou shalt lend to My people that is poor with thee, thou shalt not
be to him as an usurer ; thou shalt not lay upon him interest. »• If thou takest in
pledge at all thy neighbour's raiment, by the going-in of the sun thou shalt return
it to him. v For that is his covering only : it is his raiment for his skin : wherewith
shall he lie down ? and it shall come-to-pass, when he crieth unto Me that I will
hear, for gracious am I.

n ' Elohim shalt thou not revile, and the prince among thy people shalt thot
not curse. n Thy fulness and thy (tears) juice thou shalt not delay : the flrst-boai
of thy sons thou shalt give to Me. " So shalt thou do with thy ox, with thy
sheep : seven days shall it be with its dam ; on the eighth day thou shalt £ive it
to Me. i! And men of holiness shall ye be for Me ; and flesh in the field that it
torn, shall ye not eat ; to the dog shall ye cast it.

XXIII. l 'Thou shalt not raise a. false report : put not thy hand with the
wicked to be a witness of violence. 2 Thou shalt not be after many to do evil :
and thou shalt not answer about a suit to turn aside after many to turn-aside
justice. * And a poor man shalt thou not respect in his suit.

• ' When thou shalt meet thine enemy's ox or his ass straying, thou shalt cer-
tainly take-it-back to him. * When thou seest the ass of him that hateth thee lying
under its burden, and wilt refrain from unloosing for it, thou shalt certainly un-
loose with him.

• ' Thou shalt not turn-aside the judgment of thy poor in his suit. * From a
false matter thou shalt keep-at-a-distance ; and the innocent and righteous shalt
thou not slay : for I will not justify the wicked. • And a bribe shalt thou not
take ; for the bribe blindeth the seeing, and perverteth the words of the righteous.

• ' And a sojourner thou shalt not oppress ; for ye know the soul of the sojourner
for sojourners were ye in the land of Egypt.

10 ' And six years shalt thou sow thy land, and shalt gather its produce. » And
the seventh year thou shalt let it [i.e. * its produce '] rest and lie still ; that the
poor of thy people may eat, and their leaving the beast of the field shall eat : so
shalt thou do to thy vineyard, to thy oliveyard.

* ' Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest that

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 4'7

so thine ox and thine ass may repose, and the son of thy handmaid and the so-
journer may be refreshed. ||

14 ' Three times shalt thou keep-feast to me in the year. >* The Feast of Mazzoth
shalt thou keep, || at the season of the month of (green-ears) Abib, for in it thou
earnest -forth out of Egypt, '• and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of thy work
which thou shalt sow in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering, at the end of the
year, at thy gathering thy work out of the field. I7 Three times in the year shall
every male of thine appear before the Lord Yahveh, and they shall not appear
before Me empty. ||*

w * Thou shalt not sacrifice with leaven the blood of My sacrifice, and the fat of
My Feast shall not remain until the morning. ||

*° * Lo ! I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee
unto the place which I prepared. 2I Be watchful before him, and hearken to his
voice : embitter him not, for he will not pardon your transgression, for My Name
is in him.' ||

XXIV. ' And unto Moses He said, * Come-up unto Yahveh, thou and Aaron,
Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel, and ye shall worship at a
distance. 2 And Moses shall draw near by himself unto Yahveh, but they shall
not draw-near ; and the people shall not come-up with him.'

* And Moses came and related to the people all the words of Yahveh and all
the judgments ; and all the people answered with one voice, and they said, ' All
the things, which Yahveh hath spoken, will we do.' * And Moses wrote all the
words of Yahveh ; and he rose-early in the morning, and built an altar under the
Mountain, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. • And he
sent young-men of the children of Israel, f and they offered-up burnt -offerings and
sacrificed peace-offerings to Yahveh, steers. • And Moses took half of the blood,
and placed it in basons, and half of the blood he sprinkled upon the ajtar. T And
he took the book of the Covenant, and read in the ears of the people, and they
said, * All which Yahveh hath spoken will we do and we will hearken.' • And
Moses took the blood, and sprinkled upon the people, and he said, ' Lo ! the blood
of the Covenant which Yahveh hath made with you concerning all these words.'

* And Moses went-up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders
of Israel. 10 And they saw the Elohim of Israel, and under His feet like a work
of transparent sapphire, and as the body of heaven for clearness. n And upon the
nobles of the children of Israel He put not forth His hand ; and they beheld
Elohim, and they ate and drank. ||

" And Moses arose and Joshua his minister, and Moses went-up unto the Mount
of Elohim. m And unto the Elders he said, ' Stay for us here, until we return
unto you : and lo ! Aaron and Hur are with you ; whoever has matters, let him
draw-near unto them.' '*And Moses went-up into the Mount, and the cloud
covered the Mount. || l * And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and he went-
up into the Mount, and Moses was in the Mount forty days and forty nights. ||

* These words, ' and they shall not appear before Me empty,' clearly belong to
the end of v. 17 : in the place where they now stand, at the end of v. 15 (E.V.),
they break the connection between v. 15a and v. 16, since the same verb, 'thou
shalt observe,' is meant to govern the three accusatives, * the Feast of Mazzoth,'
4 the Feast of Harvest,' * the Feast of Ingathering.'

f Where were ' the priests, who draw-near to Yahveh,' expressly mentioned in
six. 24 (L.L.), that they did not assist on this occasion?

E E

418 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

XXX. " And He gave unto Moses, when He had finished to speak with him at
Mount Sinai, two tables of the Testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger
of Elohim. II

XXXII. l And the people saw that Moses delayed to come-down from the
Mount, and the people gathered-together against Aaron, and they said unto him,
' Arise ! make us an Elohim who shall go before us : for this Moses, the man who
brought-us-up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. 1
• And Aaron said unto them, * Strip-off the rings of gold which are in the ears of
your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring -them unto me.' 'And
all the people stripped themselves of the rings of gold which were in their ears,
and brought it unto Aaron. * And he took it out of their hands, and formed joT
with a graver, and made it a molten calf ; and they said, ' This is thy Elohim,
Israel, who brought-thee-up out of the land of Egypt ! ' • And Aaron saw it, and
f !*|M he built an altar before it ; and Aaron proclaimed and said, ' A Feast of Yahveh

to-morrow I ' • And they rose-early on the morrow ; and they offered -up burnt-
offerings and brought-near peace-offerings ; and the people sat-down to eat and
drink, and they arose to play.||

14 And Moses turned and went-down from the Mount, and the two tables of the
Testimony were in his hand, tables written on both their sides, on this side and oa
that were they written. w And the tables— they were the work of Elohim, and
the writing— it was the writing of Elohim, graven upon the tables. lt And Joshna
heard the sound of the people at their shouting, and he said unto Moses, ' A sound
of war in the camp ! ' !i And he said, ' No sound of crying victory and no sonnd
of crying defeat — the sound of singing do I hear.' '• And it came-to-pass, as he
came-near unto the Camp, that he saw the calf and dances ; and the anger of
Moses was kindled, and he cast-out of his hand the tables, and broke them under
the Mount. ,0 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fixe,
1 3 and ground it to powder, and sprinkled on the surface of the water, and made the

'5 children of Israel drink. *» And Moses said unto Aaron, * What hath this people

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done to thee, that thou hast brought upon it a great sin ? ' *» And Aaron sail,
'Let not my lord's anger be kindled ! thou knowest the people that it issrtva

i | '/ evil. M And they said to me, Make us an Elohim who shall go before us ; foi

} ' this Moses, the man who brought-us-up out of the land of Egypt, we know not

what has become of him. * 4 And I said to them, Whoever has gold, let them
strip-themselves and give it to me ; and I cast it into the fire, and there came forth
this calf.'
£ ** And Moses saw the people that it was unbridled, for Aaron had made it un-

bridled for a shame among their adversaries. M And Moses stood at the gate of
the Camp, and he said, ' Who is for Yahveh— to me ! ' and all the sons of Lcri
gathered unto him. v And he said to them, ' Thus saith Yahveh, the Elohim of
Israel 1 Place-ye each his sword upon his thigh ; pass-over and return from gate
to gate in the Camp, and slay each his brother and each his friend and each his
neighbour.' *"And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses; and
there fell of the people on that day about three thousand men. «• For Moses said,
* (Fill your hands = ) Consecrate-yourselves this day to Yahveh, yes, each on his
son and on his brother, and to bring upon yourselves this day a blessing. » *

•There were probably some words in the O.S., in connexion with this speech of
Moses to the Levites and their zealous execution of his command, appointing them

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 419

" And it came-topass on the morrow that Moses said unto the people, ' Ye —
ye have sinned a great sin : and now I will go-up unto Yahveh : perhaps I shall
atone for your sin.' "And Moses returned unto Yahveh and said, 'Lol this
people hath sinned a great sin, and they have made themselves an Elohim of gold.
n And now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin — and if not, wipe-me-out, I pray, from
Thy book which Thou hast written. ' ** And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Whoso-
ever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book.' || " And Yahveh
plagued the people because they had made the calf which Aaron made.

XXXIII. • And Yahveh spake unto Moses, * Go, go-up from hence, thou and
the people which thou hast brought-up out of the land of Egypt, into the land
which I sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To thy seed will I give
it.' I T And Moses took the Tent and pitched it without the Camp, a little way off
from the Camp, and one called it Tent of Meeting ; and it came-to-pass that every
one seeking Yahveh went-forth unto the Tent of Meeting which was without the
Camp. • And it came-to-pass, when Moses went-forth unto the Tent, that all the
people arose, and they stood each at the opening of his tent, and they looked after
Moses until his going into the Tent. • And it came-to-pass, when Moses went into
the Tent, that the piilar-of-cloud came down, and stood at the opening of the Tent,
and He spake with Moses. " And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing
at the entrance of the Tent. And all the people arose and worshipped, each at
the entrance of his tent. " And Yahveh spake unto Moses face unto face, as a
man speaketh unto his friend ; and he returned unto the Camp ; and his minister,
Joshua, son of Nun, a young-man, did not depart out of the Tent.

" And Moses said unto Yahveh, * See ! Thou sayest unto me, Bring-up this
people ; and Thou hast not made-me-know whom Thou wilt send with me ; and
Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and also thou hast found grace in Mine
eyes. " And now, if, I pray, I have found grace in Thine eyes, make-me-to-know,
I pray, Thy way, that I may know Thee ; that so I may find grace in Thine
eyes ; for see that this nation is Thy people ! ' u And He said, ' My Presence
shall go, and I will make thee rest.' ** And he said unto Him, * If Thy Presence
go not, carry-us-not-up hence. If And by what shall it indeed be known that I
have found grace in Thine eyes, I and Thy people ? Is it not in Thy going with
us ? And so shall we be distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people
which is on the face of the ground.' ,7 And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Also this
thing, which thou hast said, will I do ; for thou hast found grace in Mine eyes, and
I know thee by name.' "And he said, * Make-me-see, I pray, Thy glory.'
•• And He said, ' I will make all My goodness to pass before thee, and I will call
upon the name of Yahveh before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and will compassionate whom I will compassionate.' M But He said,
4 Thou art not able to see My face ; for man shall not see Me and live.' « And
Yahveh said, ' Lo ! there is a place with Me, and thou shalt take thy station by
the rock. M And it shall come-to-pass, at the passing-over of My glory, then I
will place thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover My palm upon thee until I
have passed over. ** And I will take-away My hand, and thou shalt see My back,
but My face shall not be seen.'

henceforth to be the priestly tribe in Israel, to which reference seems to be made
in D.x.8,9, J.xiii.14,33, but which were necessarily struck -out by the writer of the
L.L., to make way for the elaborate priestly system in E.xxviii, &&

E E2

«

420

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

XXXIV. » And Yahv«K said unto Moses, * Hew thee two tables of stone I
the first, [and make thee am ark of wood],* and I will write upon the tables
words which" were upon the first tables which thou brakedst, [and thou shalt pi
them in the ark].* * And be ready for the morning, and thou shalt come-up
the morning unto Mount Sinai, and thou shalt stand before Me there upon the i
of the Mount. ■ And no man shall go-up with thee, and also no man shall be a
in all the Mount ; also the flocks and the herds — let them not feed opposite to t
Mount.' «[And he made an ark of shittim-wood,]* and he hewed him t
tables of stone like the first ; and Moses rose-early in the morning, and went
unto Mount Sinai, as Yahveh commanded him, and he took in his hand the I
tables of stone.

•And Yahveh came-down in the cloud, and stood with him there, and
called on the name of Yahveh. • For Yahveh passed-over before him ;
called, ' Yahveh, Yahveh, El merciful and gracious, slow of anger and abend
in kindness and truth, f keeping kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity ;
transgression and sin, but who will not wholly acquit, visiting the iniquity of
fathers upon children and upon children's children, upon the third generation
upon the fourth.' • And Moses hastened and bowed his head to the earth,
worshipped. | *" And he was there with Yahveh forty days and forty nigi
bread he ate not, and water he drank not ; and He wrote upon the tables the wc
of the Covenant. | [And YAHVEH gave them onto Moses ; and he turned, i
went-down from the Mount, and put them into the ark which he had mi
ai YAHVEH commanded him.*]

*• And it came-to-pass, when Moses came-down from Mount Sinai, and the
tables of the Testimony were in the hand of Moses at his coming-down from
Mount, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone at His sped
with him. * And Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and lo !
skin of his face shone, and they feared to draw-near unto him. *> And M
called unto them, and Aaron and all the Assembly came-back unto him,
Moses spake unto them. "And afterwards all the children of Israel di
near, and he commanded them all which Yahveh spake with him in Mi
Sinai. II

;

» •

NUMBERS.

X. n And Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, father- in -la
Moses, • We are journeying unto the place of which Yahveh said, I will give
you ; come with us and we will do thee good, for Yahveh hath spoken good <
cerning Israel.' ■•And he said unto him, *I will not go, but to my land am
my kindred will I go.' tl And he said, * Forsake us not, I pray ; for there
hast thou known our camping in the wilderness, that thou mayest be to us

* See LectXVII for the reasons which lead to the conjecture that this pass
originally contained the four clauses within [ ] in v. 1,4,28, — which werenc
sarily struck -out by the writer of the L.L., when he inserted E.xxv, &c.

/ /

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 421

eyes. w And it shall come-to-pass, if thou wilt go with us, yea, it shall come-to-
pass that the good, which Yahveh will do with us, wc will do to thee.'

™ And they journeyed from the Mount of Yahveh a way of three days, and
the ark of the Covenant of Yahveh * was journeying before them a way of three
days to search-out for them a resting-place, f i4 And the cloud of Yahveh was
over them by day at their journeying from the Camp. n And it came-to-pass at
the journeying of the ark that Moses said —

• Arise, Yahveh, and let Thine enemies be scattered,
And let those that hate Thee flee before thee ! ' }

H And at its resting he said —

' Return, Yahveh,
Thou ten thousands of the thousands of Israel 1 '

XI. ! And the people was as men complaining of evil in the ears of Yahveh ;
and Yahveh heard, and His anger was kindled, and the fire of Yahveh burnt
among them, and devoured at the extremity of the Camp. * And the people cried
unto Moses, and Moses prayed unto Yahveh, and the fire was quenched. * And
one called the name of that place Taberah (i.e. ' burning '), for the fire of Yahveh
burnt among them.

4 And the rabble which was among them lusted a lust, and also the children of
Israel wept again § and said, * Who will make-us-eat flesh ? • We remember the
fish which we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the
leeks, and the onions, and the garlick. 6 And now our soul is dry ; there is
nothing except this manna before our eyes.' 'Now the manna was as coriander
seed, and its (eye) colour as the (eye) colour of bdellium. ■ The people turned-
aside, and gathered it, and ground /'/ with millstones or pounded it in a mortar,
and boiled it in the pan, and made it into cakes ; and its taste was as the taste of
the moisture of oil. • And, at the coming-down of the dew upon the camp at
night, the manna came-down upon it.*fl

10 And Moses heard the people weeping according to their families, each at the
entrance of his tent ; and the anger of Yahveh was kindled greatly, and in the

* The O. S. uses here, x. 33, for the first time, ' Ark of the Covenant of
Yahveh,' which it employs again in xiv.44, an expression which the L.L. never
uses. The L.L. says invariably *ark of the Testimony,' E.xxv.22, xxvi.33,34,
&c.

fThe ark is here carried before the host; but in ii.i7(L.L.) the 'Tent of
Meeting' is to march ' in the midst of the camps? that is, between Reuben, v. 16,
and Ephraim, v. 18, the second and third of the four camps of Israel. In x.17,
however, the ' Tabernacle ' is to march between Judah and Reuben, the first and
second of the four camps, whereas the 'holy things,' including the Ark, are to
march between Reuben and Ephraim, z/,21, as before, the former going-on in
front in order that the Tabernacle might be set up against the others ' came ' with
the ' holy things,' v. 21.

} See LectVII, pp. 86-90, on the identity between this passage and Ps.lxviil 1.

§ ' Again' — that is, after the ' complaining ' just mentioned in v. I, for which
they had been so severely punished.

% The L.L. repeats this story of the manna in E.xvi.

422 THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

eyes of Moses it was evil. " And Moses said unto Yahveh, * Wherefore I
Thou done-evil to Thy servant, and wherefore have I not found grace in Tb
eyes, to place the burden of all this people upon me ? " Have I conceived
this people, or have I begotten it, that Thou shouldst say unto me, Bear it in 1
bosom, as the nursing-father beareth the suckling, to the ground which 11
swarest to its fathers ? M Whence have I flesh to give to all this people ? for tl
weep against me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat M I am not able ale
to bear all this people, for it is too heavy for me. " And, if Thou doest thus
me, slay me, I pray, outright, if I have found grace in Thine eyes, and let me ;
look at my wretchedness. '

w And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Gather me seventy men of the Elders of Isn
as to whom thou knowest that they are elders of the people and its officers ; i
take thou them unto the Tent of Meeting, and let them present -themselves th
with thee. " And I will come-down * and I will speak -with thee there ; an
will take-back of the spirit which is upon thee, and place // upon them, and tl
shall bear with thee of the burden of the people, and thou shalt not bear it ak
18 And unto the people thou shalt say, Sanctify -yourself for to-morrow and ye si
eat flesh, for ye have wept in the ears of Yahveh saying, Who will make-us-
flesh ? for it was good for us in Egypt ; (and) so Yahveh shall give you flesh t
ye may eat. '• Not one day shall ye eat, and not two days, and not five days, j
not ten days, and not twenty days, 20 but unto a whole month, until it come-fc
out of your nostrils, and it become to you loathsome ; because ye have rejec
Yahveh who is among you, and ye wept before Him saying, "Wherefore is •
that we have come-forth out of Egypt?' ,! And Moses said, ' Six hundred thous
on foot arc the people among whom I am: and Thou — Thou hast said, Flesh wi
give them, that they may eat a whole month. n Shall the flocks and herds
slaughtered for them, that one may find for them ? or shall all the fish of the sea
gathered for them, that one may find for them?' M .And Yahveh said unto Moses,
the hand of Yahveh short ? Now shalt thou see if my words shall meet thee or n

** And Moses went-forth f and spake unto the people the words of Yahvi
and gathered seventy men of the Elders of the people, and made them sfc
around the Tent. ** And Yahveh came-down in the cloud, and spake unto hi
and He took-back of the spirit which was upon him, and put it upon the seve
men, the Elders ; and it came-to-pass, when the spirit rested upon them, that t!
prophesied, and (added not) not again. *• And there were left two men in
Gamp, the name of the one Eldad, and the name of the second Medad, and
spirit rested upon them — for they were among those written, but they went
forth to the Tent, — and they prophesied in the Camp. w And a young-man :
and told it to Moses and said, ' Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the Camj
*■ And Joshua son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his young men, answe
and said, ' My lord Moses, restrain them ! ' *• And Moses said to him, « Art tl
jealous for me ? Would that all the people of Yahveh were prophets, t

* In the L.L. the cloud 'abides' upon the Tabernacle, ix.i8, E.xl.37;
idea of Yahveh ' coming-down ' as here, and ' coming-down in the cloud,' v.
is peculiar to the O.S., E.xxxiii.9, xxxiv.5, N.xii.5, D.xxxi.15, comp. E.xix.9.

t This expression, here and in #.26, comp. also #.30, shows that the * Tent
Meeting' was supposed to be outside the Camp, as in E.xxxiii.7-n, not in
very centre of it, as in the L.L. (N.ii.3, 10, 18,25).

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 423

Yahveh would put His spirit upon them 1 ' ■• And Moses (gathered) betook him-
self into the Camp, he and the Elders of Israel.

w And a wind journeyed from Yahveh, and brought-over quails from the Sea,
and left them by the Camp, about a day's journey here and about a day's journey
there roundabout the Camp, and about two cubits high upon the face of the earth.
■ And the people arose all that day and all that night and all the day of the
morrow, and gathered the quails ; he who had little gathered ten homers ; and they
spread them out everywhere for themselves roundabout the Camp.

** While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was cut-off, then the
anger of Yahveh was kindled against the people, and Yahveh smote among
the people with a very great smiting. ** And one called the name of that place
Kibroth-hattaavah (graves of lust), for there they buried the people who had
lusted.

■* And from Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they were
at Hazeroth. XII. > And Miriam spake and Aaron against Moses on account of
the Cushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Cushite woman. * And
they said, * Only by Moses hath Yahveh spoken ? Hath he not spoken also by
us ? * — and Yahveh heard. * Now the man Moses was very humble, more than
any of the men who were on the face of the ground. * And Yahveh said sud-
denly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, ' Come-forth, ye three, unto
the Tent of Meeting I ' — and they three went-forth. • And Yahveh came-down
in the pillar of cloud, and stood at the opening of the Tent, and called Aaron and
Miriam, and they two went-forth. * • And He said, ' Hear now, I pray, My words.
If there shall be a prophet of Yahveh of yours, in a vision will I make-myself-
known unto him, in a dream will I speak by him. Not so My servant Moses : in
all My house is he faithful. 8 Mouth unto mouth will I speak with him, and with
an appearance, and not in riddles, and the form of Yahveh shall he behold :
and why have ye not feared to speak against My servant, against Moses ? ' • And
the anger of Yahveh was kindled against them, and He went. "And the cloud
departed from over the Tent,t and behold ! Miriam was leprous as snow ; and
Aaron turned towards Miriam, and behold ! she was leprous. n And Aaron said
unto Moses, ' O my lord ! lay not, I pray, upon us sin, in what we have done-
foolishly and in what we have sinned. "Let her not, I pray, be as one dead,
half of whose flesh is devoured at his coming-forth from his mother's womb. '
M And Moses cried unto Yahveh saying, ' O El, I pray, give-healing, I pray, to
her ! ' " And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' And, had her father but spit in her
face, would she not be ashamed seven days ? Let her be shut seven days without
the Camp, and afterwards let her be gathered. 1 ,4 And Miriam was shut without
the Camp seven days, and the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and camped in the
wilderness of Paran.

* In 1/.4 Yahveh calls all three to ' come-forth ' — i.e. out of the Camp — 'unto
the Tent of Meeting,' which was set-up outside the Camp, E.xxxiii.7. In v. 5
Yahveh descends at the entrance of the Tent, and calls Miriam and Aaron who
* came- forth ' from where they were standing, i.e. came-forward at the summons,
leaving Moses standing as before.

f But, according to the L.L., the cloud was always 'upon the Tabernacle, to
dwell upon it,' ix.22.

k

424

THE. ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS

XIIJ. ' And Yahveh spake unto Moses, saying, * ' Send-thec-forth men an
search-out the land of Canaan which I give to the children of Israel : one ma
for each tribe of their fathers shall ye send, everyone a prince among them.' s As
- Moses sent-them-forth from the wilderness of Paran by the mouth of Yahveh
all those men heads of the children of Israel. \ IT And Moses sent-them-forth t
search-out the land of Canaan, and said untQ them, ' Go-up this way by tfa
Negeb, and go-up into the mountain ; n and see the land what it is, and tfa
people that dwelleth upon it, whether it is strong or weak, whether few c
many ; " and what the land is upon which they dwell, whether it is good or evi
and what the cities in which they dwell, whether in encampment or in fortresses
*• and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it c
not : and be ye (strong) courageous, and take of the fruit of the land.' Now tfa
days were the days of the firstfruits of the grapes. "So they went -up by tfa
Negeb, and came to Hebron, and there were Ahiman, Sheshai, and Tainu, of
spring of the Anak : and Hebron was built seven years before Zoan of Egyp
u And they came to the brook Eschol and cut-down from thence a branch ib
one cluster of grapes, and they bare it on a pole by two nun, and of the pom*
granates, and of the figs. M That place one called the brook Eschol {i.e. ' cluster'
on account of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence. |

M And they went and came unto Moses and unto Aaron and unto all tl
Assembly of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran | ; and th<
brought-back word to them and to all the Assembly, and they showed them tl
fruit of the land. ,T And they related to him and said, ' We came unto the lai
to which thou sentest-us-forth, and truly it is flowing with milk and honey, ai
this is its fruit. «• Nevertheless, the people is strong that dwells in the land, ai
the cities are fortified, very great, aud also the sons of Anak we saw ther
*• Amalek dwells in the land of the Negeb, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, ax
the Amorite dwell in the Mountain, and the Canaanite dwells by the Sea, and t
(hand) side of Jordan.

" And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and he said, ' Let us surely go-o
and possess it ; for we shall certainly be able for it.' n And the men who wen
up with him said, ' We are not able to go-up unto the people, for it is strong*
than we. || ,f And there we saw the giants, sons of Anak of the giants ; and *
were in our eyes as grasshoppers, and so were we in their eyes.'

XIV. *And all the Assembly lifted-up and gave-forth their voice, and tl
people wept that night. || " And Yahveh said unto Moses, * How long will th
people despise Me ? and how long will they not believe in Me for all the sigr
which I have done among them ? "I will smite it with pestilence and dkposse
it, and I will make thee become a nation greater and mightier than it. ' >• An
Moses said unto Yahveh, 'The Egyptians have both heard that Thoubroughtesi
up this people from the midst of it by Thy power, M and they have told it unt
the inhabitants of this land : they have heard that Thou, Yahveh, art among th
people, that Thou art seen, Yahveh, eye to eye, and Thy cloud stands ov<
them, and in a pillar of cloud Thou goest before them by day and in a pillar <
fire by night. u And, if Thou shalt put-to-death this people as one man, the
the nations who have heard Thy fame will (say) speak saying, '• Because <
Yahveh's not being able to bring-in this people unto the land which He swai
to them, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness. " And now, I prai
let the power of my Lord be great as Thou hast spoken, saying l§ Yahveh, sloi

II

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 425

of anger and abundant in kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but who
will not wholly acquit, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children, upon the
third generation and upon the fourth. If Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this
people, for Thy kindness is great, and as Thou hast forgiven this people from
Egypt even until now.' '•And Yahveh said, 'I will pardon according to thy
word. * ! Notwithstanding, as I live, the whole earth shall be filled with the
glory of Yahveh. n For all these men, who saw My glory and My signs which
I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me these ten times, and
have not hearkened unto My voice, — **they shall not see the land which I sware
to their fathers, and all that despise Me shall not see it.* "But my servant
Caleb, because another spirit was with him, and he fulfilled after Me, therefore
will I bring him unto the land whither he went, and his seed shall possess it
** Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the (valley) hollow. To-morrow
turn and take-your-joumey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.'||

*• And Moses told these words unto all the children of Israel, and the people
bewailed greatly. *° And they rose early in the morning, and went-up unto the
top of the mountain saying, ' Here we are, and let us go-up unto the place which
Yahveh said, for we have sinned.' il And Moses said, ' Wherefore is this that
ye are transgressing the (mouth) word of Yahveh ? Yet it shall not prosper.
** Go-not-up, for Yahveh is not among you, that ye may not be smitten before
your enemies. ** For the Amalekite and Canaanite are there before you, and ye
shall fall by the sword ; for therefore have ye turned-back from after Yahveh
that Yahveh may not be among you.' iA And they presumed to go-up unto the
top of the mountain ; but the ark of the Covenant of Yahveh and Moses departed
not out of the midst of the Camp.f ** And the Amalekite camc-down and the
Canaanite that dwelt in that mountain, and smote them, and beat-them-down,
unto Hormah. ||

XVI. ' And there rose-up || Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, son of Pallu,
son of Reuben ; J *• and they (rose-up before = ) resisted Moses. || " For Moses
sent to call Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab ; and they said, * We will not
come-up. w Is it little that thou hast brought-us-up out of a land flowing with

* The O.S. in v. 20-24 S& Y S nothing about the forty years' wandering in the
wilderness.

t Not a word is here said about Aaron or about the Levites being in attendance
to carry the ark, as the L.L. would have required. The statement, that the ark
and Moses 'departed not out of the midst of the Camp,' does not imply that they
were in the centre of it, in accordance with N.iii.38, any more than the similar
expression in E.xxxiii. 1 1 implies that Joshua took post in the centre of the Tent of
Meeting. In fact, the 'Tent,' according to the O.S., was, strictly speaking,
outside the Camp, E.xxxiii. 7, 'afar off,' says the E.V., but rather 'a short distance
off,' 'some little way off, as it were a bow-shot,' G.xxi. 16 ; and Moses, accordingly,
went ' out of the Camp ' each time that he went to consult Yahveh. But in a
looser sense, and with reference to the expedition of the Israelites to the top of
the Mountain, the ' Tent ' would be reckoned as within the whole encampment
The meaning of the passage is plain ; neither Moses nor the ark marched out with
the warriors.

} Graf reads, as here, 'son of Pallu, son of Reuben,' for 'and On, son of
Peleth, sons of Reuben.'

426

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF TH£ EXODUS.

•

i i

milk and honey to put-us«to-death in the wilderness, that thou wilt altqgetii
make-thyself-prince over us ? u Also thou hast not brought us into a. land flowi
with milk and honey, and given us inheritance of field and vineyard. Wilt th
pierce-out the eyes of these men ? We will not come-up. ' ** And it (anger) m
kindled to Moses greatly, and he said unto Yahveh, * Turn-not Thou unto tin
offering ; not one ass have I taken from them ; I have not done evil to one of them.
*• And Yahveh spake unto Moses saying, ** * Speak unto the Assembly sayii
Get-ye-up from around the tabernacle of |j Dathan and Abu-am.' **And Ma
rose-up and went unto Dathan and Abiram, and the Elders of Israel went af
him. *• And he spake unto the Assembly saying, ' Go-aside, I pray, from besi
the tents of these wicked men, and touch not anything that is theirs, lest ye
taken-off in all their sin. ' " And they went-up from beside the tabernacle c
Dathan and Abiram roundabout ; and Dathan and Abiram came-forth, stand
at the entrance of their tents, and their wives, and their children, and their lit!
ones. ** And Moses said, * By this shall ye know that Yahveh hath sent mc
do all these works, that not of my heart have I done than. «• If like the death
all men these shall die, and a visitation of all men shall be visited upon Um
Yahveh hath not sent me. * But, if Yahveh shall create a (creature) new-thi
and the ground open its mouth and swallow them, and all that they have, i
they go-down alive to the grave, then ye shall know that these men have despi
Yahveh.' ■* And it came-to-pass, at his finishing to speak all these words, t
the ground, which was under them, was cleft asunder. ■* And the earth ope
her mouth, and swallowed them and their households, both all the men | and
the substance. M And they went-down, and all which they had, alive to
grave ; and the earth covered over them, and they perished from the midst of
Congregation. i4 And all Israel, who were roundabout them, fled at the (voi
cry of them, for they said, * Lest the earth swallow us 1 ' ||

XX. * And the children of Israel, all the Assembly, came into the wilderness
Zin in the first month ;* and the people dwelt in Kadesh, + and Miriam died tin
and was buried there. || u And Moses sent messengers out of Kadesh unto I
king of Edom, saying, * Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou — thou knowest
the travail which hath found us. ! * For our fathers went-down to Egypt, and
dwelt in Egypt many days, and the Egyptians did evil to us and to our fathe
19 And we cried unto Yahveh, and He heard our voice, and sent an Angel, a
brought-us-forth out of Egypt ; and lo ! we are at Kadesh, a city on the extrem
of thy territory. " Let us pass-over, I pray, through thy land ; we will not pa
over through field or vineyard, and we will not drink water of the well ; by 1
king's way will we go ; we will not turn-aside right or left, until we shall pa
over thy territory.' 1§ And Edom said unto him, 'Thou shalt not pass-o
through me, lest with sword I go-forth to meet thee.' "And the children

* The ' first month ' is evidently the first month of the second year ; whereas
the traditionary view it is apparently the second month of the fortieth year, that
there must be supposed either here, or at v. 14, a sudden leap without notice
thirty-eight years.

t This ' Kadesh ' in the ' wilderness of Zin ' is undoubtedly Petra, near M01
Hor, Z/.22, and so in xxxiii.36, D.i.40; whereas 'Kadesh' in the 'wilderness
Paran,' xiii.26,xxxii.8, D.i.i9,ix.23, is distinguished as 'Kadesh-Barnca.'

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 427

Israel said unto him, « By the high-road will we go-up, and, if we drink of thy
water, I and my cattle, then I will give its pay : only it is nothing — let me pass-
over on foot. * *° And he said, ' Thou shalt not pass-over ; ' and Edom went-forth
to meet him with (heavy) much people and with a strong hand. n And Edom
refused to give Israel passage-over through his territory ; and Israel turned-aside
from beside him. "And they journeyed from Kadesh, and they came, the
children of Israel, all the Assembly, to Mount Hor. (|

XXI. l Now the Canaanite, king of Arad, dwelling in the Negeb, had heard
that Israel came by the way of the spies,* and had fought with Israel, and had
taken captive some of them. * And Israel vowed a vow to Yahveh and said, ' If
Thou wilt indeed give this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their
cities.' ■ And Yahveh hearkened unto the voice of Israel, and gave the Canaanite,
and he utterly-destroyed them and their cities, and one called the name of the
place Hormah (utter -destruction).

* And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go-round
the land of Edom ; and the soul of the people was (shortened) distressed by the
way. * And the people spake against Elohim and against Moses, * Wherefore
have ye brought-us-up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness ? for there is no
bread and no water, and our soul loathes at the light bread.' • And Yahveh
sent among the people fiery serpents, and they bit the people, and much people
died out of Israel. 7 And the people came unto Moses and said, ' We have sinned,
for we have spoken against Yahveh and against thee ; pray unto Yahveh that
He may take-away from us the serpents ; ' and Moses prayed on behalf of the
people. • And Yahveh said unto Moses, ' Make-thee a fiery-serpent, and place
it on a pole : and it shall come-to-pass that every-one, who is bitten, shall look at
it and live.' * And Moses made a serpent of brass, and placed it on the pole ; and
it came-to-pass, if the serpent stung a man, then he looked at the serpent of
brass and lived.

10 And the children of Israel journeyed and camped at Oboth. n And they
journeyed from Oboth, and camped at Ije-Abiram, in the wilderness which is
before Moab, towards the rising of the sun. n From thence they journeyed, and
camped at the brook Zared. " From thence they journeyed and camped on the
other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that goeth-forth out of the border
of the Amorite ; for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorite. |]
'• And from thence to Beer ; that is the well {bcer) y of which Yahveh said to
Moses, ' Gather the people, and I will give them water.' "Then Israel sang this
song:—

' Spring up, O well 1

Sing thus to it !

The well, the princes digged it,

Nobles of the people bored it,

With the ruler's-staff, with their staves.'

[And the children of Israel journeyed from the wells of Bene-Jaakan to
Koserah: there died Aaron, and he was buried there. From thence they

* That is, the way by which the spies had entered Canaan just before, xiii. 22,
and by which the Israelites went up, xiv.44, and were defeated by the Amalekites
and Canaanites-sthe king of Arad, v.45.

428

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of ipring
of water,}* and from the wilderness to Mattanah, w and from Mattanah to Naha
liel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, *° and from Bamoth to the valley which is h
the field of Moab, the top of Pisgah, and looketh towards the front of (Jeshimon
the wilderness.

,! And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites saying, n * Le.
me pass-over through thy land ; we will not turn-aside through field or vineyard
we will not drink water of the well ; by the king's way will we go, until we pass
over thy territory/ u And Sihon did not give Israel passage-over through hi
territory ; and Sihon gathered all his people, and went-forth to meet Israel to th
wilderness, and came to Jahzah, and fought with Israel. "And Israel smot
him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Anion unto Jabbok
unto the children of Ammon ; for the border of the children of Amnion wa
strong. •* And Israel took all these cities, and Israel dwelt in all the cities of th
Amorites, in Heshbon and in all its (daughters) villages. *• For Heshbon was th
city of Sihon king of the Amorites, and he had fought with the former king c
Moab, and had taken all his land out of his hand unto Arnon. || * l So Israc
dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ■* And Moses sent to spy-out Jaazer, and the
captured its (daughters) villages, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.
M And they turned and went-up the way of Bashan : and Og, king of Bashan
went-forth to meet them, he and his people, to war at Edrei. ** And Yahvei
said unto Moses, * Fear him not ; for into thy hand have I given him and all hi
people and all his land ; and thou shalt do as thou hast done to Sihon, king of th
Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.*' "And they smote him and his sons, and a
his people, until one left him no remnant, and they possessed his land.

XXII. ||* And Balak, son of Zippor, saw all that Israel had done to th
Amorites. s And Moab was exceedingly afraid because of the people, for it toe
numerous, and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel. 4 An
Moab said unto the Elders of Midian, * Now shall this congregation lick -up all th
is round-about us, as the ox licketh-up the verdure of the field ; ' and Balak, sc
of Zippor, was king of Moab at that time. • And he sent messengers unto Balaan
son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River of the children of his people, to ca
for him saying, * Lo ! a people hath come-forth out of Egypt ; lo ! it hai
covered the eye of the land, and it is dwelling over-against me. • And now,
pray you, curse for me this people, for it is mightier than I ; perhaps I may be at
that we smite it, and I may drive it out of the land ; for I know that whom th<
blessest is blessed, and whom thou cursest is cursed.'

T And the Elders of Moab and the Elders of Midian went, and rewards-of-dh
nation in their hands ; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the wor
of Balak. • And he said unto them, ' Lodge here to-night, and I will bring yi
back word, as Yah veh shall speak unto me ; ' and the princes of Moab dwi
with Balaam. • And Elohim came unto Balaam and said, ' Who are these m<
with thee ? ' ,0 And Balaam said unto Elohim, ' Balak, son of Zippor, king
Moab, hath sent unto me, saying, » Lo ! the people that is coming- forth out
Egypt, and it covers the eye of the land — now come, pierce it for me ; perhaps

* This passage, which now stands in a most unsuitable place, D.x.6,7, probah
stood originally somewhere in this chapter ; see Lect. XVII. p. 238. But sot
other fragments of this itinerary may be missing.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 429

may be able to fight with it, that I may drive it out.' " And Elohim said unto
Balaam, ' Thou shalt not go with them ; thou shalt not curse the people ; for
it is blessed.' w And Balaam rose-up in the morning, and said unto the princes of
Balak, ' Go into your land, for Yahveh refuses to let me go with you.' "And
the princes of Moab rose-up, and came unto Balak and said, ' Balaam refuseth to
come with us.'

" And Balak sent princes again, more numerous and more honourable than
they. " And they came unto Balaam and said to him, ' Thus saith Balak, son of
Zippor, Be not, I pray, withheld from coming unto me. ,f For I will greatly
honour thee, and all which thou shalt say unto me I will do : and come, I pray,
pierce for me this people.' "And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of
Balak, ' If Balak would give-me the fulness of his house of silver and gold, I
may not transgress the (mouth) word of Yahveh my Elohim, to do a small thing
or a great. If And now abide, I pray, here, you also, to-night, and I shall know
what Yahveh speaks again with me.' *• And Elohim came unto Balaam by
night, and said to him, ' If the men have come to call for thee, arise, go with them;
but only the thing which I shall speak with thee, it shalt thou do.'

tl And Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the
princes of Moab. "And the anger of Elohim was kindled because he was
going, and the angel of Yahveh stood in the way for an adversary to him ; and
he was riding upon his ass, and two young men with him. " And the ass saw the
Angel of Yahveh standing in the way and his sword drawn in his hand ; and
the ass turned -aside out of the way, and went in the field, and Balaam smote the
ass to make her turn-aside into the way. u And the Angel of Yahveh stood in
a narrow-path of the vineyards, a fence on. this side and a wall on that. u And
the ass saw the Angel of Yahveh, and pressed herself against the wall, and he
smote her again. *• And the Angel of Yahveh passed-over again, and stood in a
strait place, where there was no turning-aside to the right-hand or to the left.
,7 And the ass saw the Angel of Yahveh, and she lay down under Balaam, and
Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a stick. ■» And Yahveh
opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, ' What have I done to thee,
that thou hast smitten me these three times ? ' *• And Balaam said to the ass,
* Because thou hast played -tricks with me : would that there were a sword in my
hand, for now had I killed thee ! ' " And the ass said unto Balaam, ' Am I not
thine ass upon which thou hast ridden ever since thou wast unto this day ? Have I
l^een at all accustomed to do this to thee ? ' And he said, ' No.' ,! And Yahveh
opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the Angel of Yahveh standing in the
way, and His sword drawn in His hand ; and he bowed his head and worshipped
on his face. w And the Angel of Yahveh said unto him, ' For what hast
thou smitten thine ass these three times ? Lo ! I have come-forth for an adversary :
for thy way hath been perverse before Me. ■* And the ass saw Me, and turned-
aside before me these three times : perhaps, she hath turned aside because of My
presence : for now both thee had I slain and her had I let live.' M And Balaam
said unto the Angel of Yahveh, ' I have sinned, for I knew not that Thou wast
standing to meet me in the way : and now, if it is evil in thine eyes, I will get-me
back.' ** And the Angel of Yahveh said unto Balaam, * Go with the men ; only
the word that I shall speak unto thee, that shalt thou speak.' And Balaam went
with the princes of Balak.
M And Balak heard that Balaam had come, and he went -forth to meet him unto

II

430

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

the city of Moab which is on the border of Anion, which is on the extra
the border. n And Balak said unto Balaam, ' Have I not earnestly sent un
to call for thee ? Wherefore hast thou not come unto me ? Shall I not t
able to honour thee ? ' n And Balaam said unto Balak, ' Lo ! I have coo
thee : now shall I be able at all to speak anything ? the word which Elohi
place in my mouth, that shall I speak. 1 M And Balaam went with Bala
they came to Kirjath-Huzoth. M And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, ar
for Balaam, and for the princes who were with him. " And it came-to-pas!
morning that Balak took Balaam and brought-him-up to Bamoth-Baal, and
from thence the extremity * of the people.

\ XXIII. * And Balaam said unto Balak, ' Build-me here seven altars, an
pare for me here seven steers and seven rams.' * And Balak did as Balaam !
and Balak and Balaam offered-up a steer and a ram upon each altar.
Balaam said to Balak, ' Stand by the burnt -offering, and I will go : p<
Yahveh will (meet) come to meet me, and the word — what he shall sho*
then I will tell to thee : ' and he went to an eminence. 4 And Elohf
Balaam, and he said unto Him, ' The seven altars I have arranged, and '.
offered a steer and a ram upon each altar. ' • And Yahveh placed a w
Balaam's mouth, and said, * Return unto Balak, and thusshalt thou speak.'
he returned unto him, and lo ! he was standing by his burnt-offering, he and
princes of Moab. T And he lifted-up his parable and said —

' From Aran doth Balak lead me,

The king of Moab from the mountains of the East, saying,
Come curse for me Jacob,
And come, execrate Israel.

• How shall I pierce whom El hath not pierced ?

And how shall I execrate whom Yahveh hath not execrated ?

• For from the tops of the rocks I see him,
And from the heights I behold him ;

Lo ! the people dwelleth alone,
And among the nations it doth not reckon-itself.
10 Who hath counted the dust of Jacob,
Or the number of the fourth of Israel ?
May my soul die the death of the upright,
And may my last end be like him ! '

11 And Balak said unto Balaam, * What hast thou done to me ! To piero
enemies I took thee, and lo ! thou hast altogether blessed ! ' n And he ans
and said, * What Yahveh shall place in my mouth, shall I not observe to sp
19 And Balak said unto him, * Come, I pray, with me unto another place,
whence thou shalt see him ; only his extremity shalt thou see, and of all o
thou shalt not see ; and pierce him for me from thence.' H And he took 1
the field of Zophim, unto the top of Pisgah ; and he built seven altar
offered a steer and a ram upon each altar. >• And he said unto Balak, '
thus by thy burnt-offering, and I will meet thus.' w And Yahveh met Ba
and placed a word in his mouth, and said, ' Return unto Balak, and thus

* Balaam saw 'the extremity,' *>., the farthest portion— and therefor
whole— of the people.

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 431

thou speak.' IT And he came unto him, and lo ! he was standing by his burnt-
offering, and the princes of Moab with him : and Balak said to him, ' What hath
Yahveh spoken ? ' 18 And he took-up his parable and said : —

' Arise, Balak, and hear !

Give-ear to me, thou son of Zippor !
w El is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent ;

Hath He not said, and shall He not do —

And spoken, and shall He not confirm ?
,0 Lo ! to bless have I received ;

He hath blessed, and I will not reverse.
11 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,

And He hath not seen perverseness in Israel ;

Yahveh his Elohim is with him,

And the shout of a King is in him.
** El brought-them-forth out of Egypt ;

He has like a buffalo's speed.
*• For there is no enchantment against Jacob,

And there is no divination against Israel.

At the proper time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel,

What hath El wrought !
24 Lo ! the people as a lioness shall arise,

And as a lion shall lift-itself-up ;

He shall not lie-down till he devour the prey,

And the blood of the slain shall he drink.'

"And Balak said unto Balaam, 'Neither pierce it all, nor bless it all' * And
Balaam answered and said unto Balak, 'Spake I not unto thee, saying, All
that Yahveh shall speak with me, that will I do ? ' 21 And Balak said unto
Balaam, ' Come, I pray, I will take thee unto another place ; perhaps, it will be
right in the eyes of Elohim to curse it for me from thence.' "And Balak took
Balaam to the top of Peor, that looketh (in front) east of the wilderness (Jeshi-
mon). n And Balaam said unto Balak, ' Build me here seven altars, and prepare
me here seven steers and seven rams.' ••And Balak did as Balaam said, and
offered a steer and a ram upon each altar.

XXIV. * And Balaam saw that it was good in the eyes of Yahveh to bless
Israel ; and he went not, as time by time, to meet enchantments, but he set his
face towards the wilderness. * And Balaam lifted-up his eyes, and saw Israel
tabernacling by its tribes, and the spirit of Elohim was upon him, 'and he took-
up his parable and said : —

' Balaam, the son of Beor, affirms,

And the man, whose eyes are shut, affirms,
4 He who hears the words of El, affirms,

Falling into a trance^ but with eyes uncovered —

* How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,
Thy tabernacles, O Israel !

• As valleys are they stretched out,
As gardens by the River,

432

THE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS.

As aloes that Yahveh has planted,
As cedars by the waters.

• He raaketh waters flow from his buckets,
And his seed is in many waters ;

And higher than Agag * shall be his king,
And his kingdom shall be exalted.

• El brings-him-forth out of EgyjJt, •
He has like a buffalo's speed ;

He shall eat-up nations his adversaries,
And their bones shall he break,
And with his arrows shall he smite.

• He stooped, he lay-down as a lion,
Even as a lioness — who shall rouse him ?
Those blessing thee shall be blessed,
And those cursing thee shall be cursed.'

19 And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his ha]
Balak said unto Balaam, * To pierce mine enemies have I called thee,
thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. " And now, flee-t
thy place ; I said, I would altogether, honour thee, but lo ! Yahveh ha
thee-back from honour.' "And Balaam said unto Balak, * Did I not sp
thy messengers, whom thou sentest unto me, saying, " If Balak would giv
fulness of his house of silver and gold, I shall not be able to go-beyond the
word of Yahveh, to do a good -thing or an evil out of my heart : what 1
shall speak, that will I speak ? ,4 And now, lo ! I go to my people : c
me counsel thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter-en
days.' ,ft And he took-up his parable and said : —

1 Balaam, the son of Beor, affirms,
And the man, whose eyes are shut, affirms,
l- He, who hears the words of El, affirms,
And who knows the knowledge of the Highest,
Who sees the visions of Shaddai,
Falling into a trance, but with eyes uncovered —
11 I see him, but not now !
I behold him,- but not near !
A Star has (stepped -forth) appeared out of Jacob,
And a Sceptre has arisen out of Israel,
And hath smitten the (corners) temples of Moab,
And the crown of the head of all the sons of pride.
w And Edom shall be a possession,
Yea, Seir shall be a possession —his enemies ;
But Israel shall be (making) gaining force, f

* We have here a sign of the age when this passage was written, in coi
with iS.xv, viz., about the time when the glory of Agag had just passe
and was remembered as a thing of the last generation.

fThe manifest allusions in p. 17-19 to David and his conquests over
Edom, &c, seem plainly to show that this prophecy of Balaam was comp

ThE ORIGINAL STORY OF THE EXODUS. 433

19 And one shall rule out of Jacob,
And shall destroy the remnant out of the city. 1

*• And he saw Amalek, and he took-up his parable and said : —

* The beginning of the nations is Amalek,
And his end — he perisheth for ever.'

11 And he saw the Kenite, and he^ook-up his parable and said : —

* Strong is thy dwelling,

And thou puttest in the rock thy nest {ken ) ;
** Yet {/Tain) the Kenite shall be for sweeping-away ;
How long ere Asshur carries-thee captive ! '

*■ And he took-up his parable and said : —

' Alas ! who shall live after El's (placing) ordaining this 1
24 And ships from the (hand) coast of Chittim,
And they shall humble Asshur, and they shall humble Eber,
And also it perisheth for ever ! '

u And Balaam arose, and he went and returned to his place,* and also Balak
went-his-way.

XXV. ' And Israel dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to commit-whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. * And they called for the people to the sacrifices of
their Elohim. ■ And Israel joined-itself to Baal-Peor, and the anger of Yahveh
was kindled against Israel. 4 And Yahveh said unto Moses, * Take all the heads
of the people, and hang themf before Yahveh over-against the sun, that the
fierceness of Yahveh's anger may turn-back from Israel.' * And Moses said unto
the Judges of Israel, • Slay-ye each his men, those joined to Baal-Peor.' ||

XXXII. * And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had much cattle,
very mighty, and they saw the land of Jaazer and the land of Gilead, and behold !
the place was a place for cattle. *• And Moses gave to them — to the children of
Gad and to the children of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manassehson of Joseph
— the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of
Bashan, the land with its cities in the coasts, the cities of the land roundabout. { |J

l- And they came near unto him and said, * Folds for sheep let us build for our
cattle here and cities for our little-ones. "And we will arm ourselves in full
panoply before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place ;
and our little-ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of
the land. w We will not return to our houses, until the children of Israel have in-
herited each his inheritance. '• For we will not inherit with them across the Jordan

David's age, at a time when his might was still advancing, and Edom had not yet
been subdued, 2S.viii.i4, nor Ammon conquered. See Lect.VII.pp.94-6.

•That is, he returned to his home beyond the Euphrates, xxii.5. The O.S.
therefore knew nothing about Balaam's evil counsel, or of his fate and the war
against Midi an, which belong to the L.L. (xxxi.8, 16).

+ * Take all the heads of the people,' i.e. with thee as witnesses or counsellors,
comp. E.xvii.5,N.xx.25, 'and hang them,' i.e. the offenders.

% See (VI. 120) for the reasons which support the conjecture that tf.33 followed
originally v. I.

F F

434 T/fi ORIGIN AJU STORY OF THE EXODUS.

' and farther on : fir oar inheritance has come to as across the Jordan eas
** And Moses said unto them, ' If ye will do this thing — if ye will arm-you
before Yahveh for war, *' and every armed-man of you pass-over the Jordan
Yahveh, until He have expelled His enemies before Him, "and the famdl
dued before YAHVEH— then afterwards ye shall return and be guiltless with Y
and with Israel ; and this land shall be to you a possession before Yahveh.
if ye will not do so, lo ! your sin is against Yahveh, and know that your sin
•find you. ,4 Bnjkl yourselves cities for your little-ones and folds lor your
and what goeth oat of your mouth do.' \ .

u So> the Children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, •* and i
Shophaa, and Jaazer, and Jobehah, "and Beth-Nimrah, and Beth-Haran—
, cities and folds of sheep.

* " And the children of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiria
M and Nebo, and Baal-Meon (changed as to name), and Sibmah ; and they
by names the names of the cities which they built

n And the children of Machir, son of Manasseh, went to Gilead, and ca
it ; and he dispossessed trie Amorite who was in it. *• And Moses gave GiJ
Maehir, son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in- it.

41 And Jair, son of Manasseh, west and captured their small towns (ha*
and he called them Hawoth-Jair.

" And Nobah went and captured Kenath and her (daughters) villages, and
Nobah by his name, jj

DEUTERONOMY,

XXXI. u And Yahveh said unto Moses, • Lo ! thy days have come to die
Joshua, and take-yoox-stand in the Tent of Meeting, and I will command
And Moses went, and Joshua, and took-their-stand in the Tent of Meeting. *
Yahveh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud sic
the entrance of the Tent. || " And He commanded Joshua, the son of Nor
said, ' Be strong and be firm ; for thou shalt bring the children of Israel int
land which 1 sweare to them, and I will be with thee.' |

XXXIV. ■And Moses, the servant of Yahveh, died there in the land of!
by the mouth of Yahveh." And one buried him in a valley in the land of 1
opposite to Beth-Peor ; but no man knoweth of his grave unto this day. | w
there arose not a prophet any more in Israel like Moses, whom Yahveh knei
unto faoa.

The passages in the Book of Jothttm belonging to the O.S. are as follows
t-2,ii. i-24,iii. i, 5-9, i i-i7,iv.i-i2, 14-18,20-23, v. i,9,l3-*3» vi.1-18,20-34
27,viLs-6, 10-26 (except t/.25 e ) l viii.i-29,ix.3-i5 a ,i6,22-27%x.i~ii,i5-43, x i
4-20, zul i-ai%23-3i,33,xv,xvi,xvii i,2,7-i8,xviii, xix. i-5o,xxiL7, xxiv. 2)
32.

APPENDIX III.

THE PRE-CHRISTIAN CROSS, ITS UNIVERSALITY
AND MEANING.

From the Edinburgh Review for January ', 1870.

' From the dawn of organised Paganism in the Eastern world to the final es-
tablishment of Christianity in the Western, the Cross was undoubtedly one of the
commonest and most iter ed of symbolical monuments. . . . Apart from any dis-
tinctions of social and intellectual superiority, of caste, colour, nationality, or loca-
tion in either hemisphere, it appears to have been the aboriginal possession of every
people in antiquity. . . . Diversified forms of the symbol are delineated more or
less artistically, according to the progress achieved in civilisation at the period, on
the ruined walls of temples and palaces, on natural rocks and sepulchral galleries,
on the hoariest monoliths and the rudest statuary, on coins, medals, and vases of
every description, and, in not a few instances, are preserved in the architectural
proportions of subterranean as well as superterranean structures, of^temnli as well
as fanes. . . . Populations of essentially different culture, tastes, and pursuits —
the highly-civilised and the demi-civilised, the settled and nomadic— vied with each
other in their superstitious adoration of it, and in their efforts to extend the know-
ledge of its exceptional import and virtue amongst their latest posterities.

' Of the several varieties of the Cross still in vogue, as national and ecclesiastical
emblems, and distinguished by the familiar appellations of St. George, St Andrew,
the Maltese, the Greek, the Latin, &&, &c, there is not one the existence of which
may not be traced to the remotest antiquity. They were the common property of
the Eastern nations. . . . That each known variety has been derived from a
common source, and is emblematical therefore of one and the same truth, may be
inferred from the fact of forms identically the same, whether simple or complex,
cropping up in contrary directions, in the Western as well as in the Eastern hemi-
sphere.

' Amongst the earliest known type is the crux amata, vulgarly called ' the key
of the Nile,' because of its being found sculptured or otherwise represented so fre-

II

1!

r

h
\ i

k [

J

' K

I!

,

436

THE PRE-CHRISTIAN CROSS.

quently upon Egyptian and Coptic monuments. It has, however, a very mu
older and more sacred signification than this. It was the symbol of symbols, 1
mystical Tau, 'the hidden wisdom, 1 not only of the- ancient Egyptians, but also
the Chaklseans, Phoenicians, Mexicans, Peruvians, and of every other ancii
people commemorated in history, in either hemisphere ; and is formed very six
larly to our letter T, with a roundld or oval placed immediately above it. . .
The most curious exhibition of it may be seen on a stele from Khorsabad, where
is depicted an eagle-headed man holding the circle in his right hand and the tau
his left hand. ... It seems to us almost indisputable that the oval or rmtm
constitutes an integral part of the symbol, and is not an accidental or convenit
addition to it

' When the Spanish Missionaries first set foot upon the soil of America, in t
fifteenth century, they were amazed to find that the Cross was as devoutly w<
shipped by the Red Indians as by themselves. . . . The hallowed symbol ch
lenged their attention on every hand and in almost every variety of form. . .
And, what is still more remarkable, the Cross was not only associated with otfc
subjects corresponding in every particular with those delineated on Babyloni
monuments, but it was also distinguished by the Catholic appellations, " the tree
subsistence," "the wood of health," " the emblem of life."

* Another form of the Cross common to both hemispheres was the Maltese, t
four delta-like arms of which, in the oldest known occurrences, are conjoined to
issue from the nave of a wheel or diminutive circle. ... It figures on the breas
of the most powerful monarchs pourtrayed on the Nineveh remains, now in tl
British Museum, of which the colossal tablet from Nimroud, bearing the supc
scription of Ashur-idanni-pal, is a notable example. * It depends, with other men
emblems, from the neck of the king. . . . And, when ^inserted in a roundlet^ \
may be seen in the left-hand corner of the stele just mentioned, is emblematical
Sansi, or the Sun dominating the earth as well as the heavens.'

N. B. — For further information on this subject reference may be made to Ft
VI. App.122.
< : . . .

* This Tablet is represented in me Frontispiece, and is described in the Guid
printed by order of the Tfustees of the British Museum, as ' a high arched sla
having in front a bas-relief of the King, with various Sacred symbols, and on t]
sides and back an invocation to the Assyrian gods, and a chronicle of the King
conquests. ' The name of this King is now read as * Assur-iar-pal, or Assur-nac
pal, the earliest Assyrian monarch of whom any large monuments have been pi
cured, and who is believed to have reigned about B.C. 880. '

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